Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 951 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,415 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 951 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $13,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% in the 2nd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $48,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on COST. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Argus increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $932.14 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $945.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $972.16. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $413.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.19, a PEG ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.