Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Valley National Advisers Inc.

Valley National Advisers Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 80.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 506 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,052 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Birchbrook Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 456 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 159 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hobbs Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Busey Bank raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 2,651 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,454,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Key Costco Wholesale News

Here are the key news stories impacting Costco Wholesale this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Northcoast Research upgraded COST from Neutral to Buy and set a $1,100 price target (roughly +26% upside from recent levels), a near-term catalyst for bullish flows. Northcoast Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Yahoo Finance reports Costco “breaks 3 records” — a headline that reinforces momentum around membership, sales and comps (positively read by investors even before full detail disclosure). Costco breaks 3 records
• Positive Sentiment: Forbes published a piece outlining specific catalysts and execution paths that could drive a rally in COST — a constructive analyst/strategy view that supports more optimistic positioning. How Costco Stock Can Rally
• Positive Sentiment: The Motley Fool (and syndicated repeat) published bullish commentary framing COST as a long-term wealth-builder, reinforcing investor confidence in the membership model and repeat purchase economics. Is Costco Stock a Multimillionaire Maker?
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks compares Target vs. Costco on upside potential — this frames COST as resilient (membership/digital momentum) but highlights peer execution differences investors are weighing. Target vs. Costco
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat flagged COST as among household names showing rare oversold signals into year-end — a technical setup that can attract short-term buying if momentum stabilizes. Oversold Signals
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks noted increased investor attention on COST (summary pieces that raise visibility but don’t change fundamentals). Investor Attention
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer/operational items — a regional product feature (MSN), holiday hours/closures and a planned one-day shutdown article — are interest items for customers but unlikely to move fundamentals materially. Regional Costco Find Holiday Closure

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $1,115.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reduced 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 report on Monday, September 29th. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $947.00 to $917.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, HSBC dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,045.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $992.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,410,343.68. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 6,339 shares of company stock valued at $5,916,642 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $873.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $387.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.78, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $844.06 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $902.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $938.67. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The retailer reported $4.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 29.35%. The company had revenue of $67.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates a global chain of membership-only warehouse clubs that sell a wide array of merchandise in bulk at discounted prices. The company’s product mix includes groceries, fresh and frozen food, household goods, electronics, apparel, and seasonal items, augmented by its prominent private-label brand, Kirkland Signature. Costco’s business model centers on annual membership fees and high-volume, low-margin sales, designed to drive repeat purchasing and strong customer loyalty among both consumers and small-business buyers.

Beyond merchandise, Costco provides a range of ancillary services that complement its warehouses, including gasoline stations, pharmacy and optical services, hearing aid centers, photo services, and travel and insurance products.