Short Interest in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Rises By 7.0%

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,330,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the August 15th total of 6,850,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the second quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,737,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 995 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the second quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 790 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, LifePro Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the second quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 358 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $925.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.52.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ COST traded down $4.75 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $892.52. 1,336,578 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,943,247. The firm has a market cap of $395.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $862.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $808.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.