Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Purchased by Phillips Financial Management LLC

Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 426 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% in the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $20,430,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at $3,095,000. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $937.50 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $947.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $971.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $415.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

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.