Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Boosts Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,149 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of COST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,127,000 after purchasing an additional 18,045 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after buying an additional 125,441 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $915.38 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.27, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $953.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $972.15. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.34 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on COST. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

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.