Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Director Susan L. Decker Sells 620 Shares

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,320,787.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $14.64 during trading on Thursday, hitting $877.35. 1,921,167 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,990,293. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $530.56 and a 1-year high of $896.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $847.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $780.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $388.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.36, a PEG ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $775.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $824.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,372,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 416 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $273,000. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 1,077 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.