Northstar Financial Companies Inc. Decreases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Northstar Financial Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 37.9%, owning 1,200 shares valued at approximately $1,135,000 as of its latest SEC filing.
• Insiders, including Director Susan L. Decker and EVP Teresa A. Jones, sold significant amounts of stock, reducing their ownership by 4.53% and 20.26% respectively, over the past quarter.
• Costco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30, yielding 0.5%, and reported positive earnings results with a 8.0% year-over-year revenue growth, totaling $63.21 billion.

Northstar Financial Companies Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 37.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,200 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 732 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 1.2% of Northstar Financial Companies Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Northstar Financial Companies Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 raised its holdings in 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. raised its holdings in 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 acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in 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 and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded down $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $943.32. 1,606,977 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,307,594. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $418.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.96. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $966.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $981.17. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.16 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. This represents a 4.87% 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 three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on COST shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital dropped their price target 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. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,050.00.

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.