Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Driehaus Capital Management LLC

Driehaus Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 327 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $710,802,000 after buying an additional 620,341 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,266,000 after buying an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $374,688,000 after acquiring an additional 552,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $886.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $393.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $540.23 and a 52-week high of $923.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $871.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $818.37. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.