Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Position Increased by Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,788 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up about 2.0% of Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $42,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 96,316.6% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,378,758 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,364,888,000 after buying an additional 1,377,328 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,920,107,000 after buying an additional 711,560 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $768,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,806 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 topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,025.07.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.6%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $908.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $871.71 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $924.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $960.46. The company has a market capitalization of $402.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.