Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 10.9%, ending with 6,991 shares valued at approximately $6.61 million.
• Costco reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $4.28, surpassing estimates, and achieved revenues of $63.21 billion, an 8.0% increase year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 0.6%, with a payout ratio of 29.50%.

Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 10.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,991 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 855 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125,441 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,050.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,147 shares of company stock worth $10,067,740 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of COST traded down $4.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $944.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,066,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,332,416. The company's 50-day moving average is $967.16 and its 200-day moving average is $982.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $419.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.60, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. Costco Wholesale's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

Costco Wholesale Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.