Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Bellevue Asset Management LLC

Bellevue Asset Management LLC cut its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,720 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up 3.2% of Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Corps Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Farrell Financial LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Farrell Financial LLC now owns 522 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 2,035 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $914.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $405.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.98. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $952.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $971.76. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $867.34 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Nineteen investment 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

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.