Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Spartan Planning & Wealth Management increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 126.6% in Q2, reaching a total of 868 shares valued at $859,000.
• Executive Vice Presidents Teresa A. Jones and Yoram Rubanenko sold a significant number of shares, reducing their ownership by 20.26% and 40.92% respectively.
• Costco's recent quarterly earnings surpassed analysts' expectations, reporting $5.87 EPS on $86.16 billion in revenue, marking an 8.1% year-over-year revenue increase.

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 126.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 868 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,095,000. Rossmore Private Capital grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $6,325,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $916.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.16 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market cap of $406.61 billion, a PE ratio of 50.35, a P/E/G ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $955.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $971.72.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,072.00.

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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