Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Purchases 780 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,042 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $11,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Soundwatch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 635.7% in the second quarter. Soundwatch Capital LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,206 shares during the last quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,023.41.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $894.68 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $871.71 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $919.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $954.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.20 billion, a PE ratio of 49.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.56%.

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.