Susan L. Decker Sells 547 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Stock

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) 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 value of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $5.39 on Friday, hitting $980.29. 3,250,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,070,702. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $793.00 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $434.74 billion, a PE ratio of 55.60, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,002.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.11.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the period. F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $236,000. RW Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $5,153,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the period. AMJ Financial Wealth Management increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $9,654,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Umpqua Bank lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Loop Capital lowered 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 note on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

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.

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