Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by First Citizens Financial Corp

First Citizens Financial Corp reduced its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 350 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 267 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Vima LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,097,624. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $875.67 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $874.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $820.24. The company has a market cap of $388.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $540.23 and a 1 year high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.30% and a net margin of 2.90%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $883.04.

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.