Evanson Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

30 Dec 2023, 16:16 by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat Gem

Evanson Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Free Report) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 837 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 3,210 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 530,031 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $285,358,000 after buying an additional 6,049 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the second quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,345 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,645,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% in the second quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,604 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Busey Wealth Management increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 10.1% in the second quarter. Busey Wealth Management now owns 12,474 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $630.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $585.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $535.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.60.

View Our Latest Analysis on Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $660.08 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $447.90 and a 1-year high of $681.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $602.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $568.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.90 billion, a PE ratio of 45.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 14th. The retailer reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $57.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.79 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 27.44% and a net margin of 2.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.10 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 28th will be paid a dividend of $15.00 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous special dividend of $10.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 27th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 1,112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.21, for a total value of $756,393.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,529,103. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 1,112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.21, for a total transaction of $756,393.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,300 shares in the company, valued at $16,529,103. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.75, for a total value of $2,509,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,015,333.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,377 shares of company stock valued at $11,553,511 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Costco Wholesale

(Free Report)

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.