Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 11,460 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,893 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 11,460 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $44,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC increased its stake 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 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on COST. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on 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. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup lowered 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 report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $910.94 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.34 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $953.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $972.16. 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 stock has a market cap of $403.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.02, a PEG ratio of 5.55 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. The company had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

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.