Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD holds $1.61 billion in Costco Wholesale, owning 1,705,815 shares after a slight decrease of 0.5% in their stake.
• Costco reported $4.28 earnings per share, exceeding estimates, with revenues reaching $63.21 billion, marking an 8% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30, translating to an annual yield of 0.5%, with a current payout ratio of 29.50%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,705,815 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 8,187 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.38% of Costco Wholesale worth $1,613,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Aspect Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 65 shares of the retailer's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital cut 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. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,050.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, 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 value of $3,008,310.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. The trade was 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 sold 10,147 shares of company stock worth $10,067,740. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST traded down $11.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $958.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,132,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,129,634. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.16 and a one year high of $1,078.23. 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 fifty day moving average of $969.85 and a 200 day moving average of $985.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $425.09 billion, a PE ratio of 54.37, a P/E/G ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released 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. 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio 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.