CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,098 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management now owns 635 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Clare Market Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC now owns 3,981 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,766,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 603 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on COST. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $916.77 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $867.34 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $406.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $953.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 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, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

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.