IMZ Advisory Inc Decreases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

IMZ Advisory Inc decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 26.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 279 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. IMZ Advisory Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the first 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 period. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Citigroup reduced 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 report on Monday, September 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $914.80 on Thursday. 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 current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $952.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for 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%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend 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.