Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,352 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 1,360 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $22,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COST. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer's stock worth $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on COST shares. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of COST stock traded down $3.75 on Wednesday, reaching $982.09. 2,764,267 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,213,570. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $793.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $435.54 billion, a PE ratio of 55.71, a P/E/G ratio of 6.17 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $1,005.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $981.68.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. Costco Wholesale's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

About Costco Wholesale

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.