NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $11.70 Million Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,195 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,949 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $11,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,363,000 after purchasing an additional 338,780 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3 %

COST stock traded down $3.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $971.83. The stock had a trading volume of 367,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,794. The firm has a market cap of $430.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $591.46 and a 1-year high of $981.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $907.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $872.68.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.00%.

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.