Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Sells 452 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp cut its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,660 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 452 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,125,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. First National Corp MA ADV raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 3,098 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Morton Capital Management LLC CA raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 1,564 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Argus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $849.99 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $524.63 and a 1-year high of $873.96. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $739.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.75%.

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.