Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Position Reduced by Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.

Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. decreased its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,272 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 2.4% of Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $12,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the first quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the first quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 8,841 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,477,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 10.3% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 557 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.9% during the first quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,605 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,304,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 82.8% in the first quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 731 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $894.57.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $886.99 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $543.64 and a 1-year high of $923.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $892.35 and a 200-day moving average of $842.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $393.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.53, a PEG ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.