Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,934 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 495 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $16,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $3,095,000. Finally, Umpqua Bank boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,134,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,037.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $950.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $421.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $998.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $983.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $793.00 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.

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