Citizens National Bank Trust Department Cuts Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Citizens National Bank Trust Department cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,646 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC lifted 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $61,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $914.80 on Wednesday. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.34 and a 12-month high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $405.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $952.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $971.76.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued 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 is 28.56%.

Costco Wholesale 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.