Berger Financial Group Inc Decreases Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Berger Financial Group Inc trimmed its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,365 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 0.9% of Berger Financial Group Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Berger Financial Group Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $14,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 961.7% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 23,146 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,891,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 52.8% during the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,727 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,634,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $953.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.61.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The company had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.15 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.