Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Decreases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,859 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,004 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 2.6% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $60,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 26.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 207,426 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $196,179,000 after buying an additional 43,539 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,203,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 49.2% during the first quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 5,155 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,876,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,033.00 to $926.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,125.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Gordon Haskett lowered their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,134.00 to $1,146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $991.39.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.6%

COST opened at $857.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $380.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $844.06 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $911.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $946.61.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The retailer reported $4.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $67.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.03 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 29.35% and a net margin of 2.96%.The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.85%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. This trade represents a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257. Insiders own 0.10% 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.