Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $3.05 Million Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 24.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,436 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,102 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Vima LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 73.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $7.44 on Friday, hitting $883.11. 1,517,311 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,961,015. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $540.23 and a one year high of $923.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $875.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $821.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $391.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.72, 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Costco Wholesale 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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Costco Wholesale

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.