Weik Capital Management Sells 833 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Weik Capital Management reduced its stake in Costco by 9.4%, holding 8,058 shares valued at $7.62 million as of the latest quarter.
• Several large investors, including Personal CFO Solutions LLC and F&V Capital Management LLC, increased their stakes in Costco during the same period.
• Costco's latest quarterly earnings surpassed estimates, with $4.28 EPS and $63.21 billion in revenue, reflecting an 8% increase year-over-year.

Weik Capital Management lowered its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,058 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 833 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 3.1% of Weik Capital Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Weik Capital Management's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth $3,461,159,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on COST. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,050.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $980.85. 1,656,053 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,205,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $971.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $986.12. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.16 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $434.99 billion, a PE ratio of 55.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

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.