Lakeside Advisors INC. Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Lakeside Advisors INC. reduced its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,729 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 296 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 8.2% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $13,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $894.57.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $877.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $388.71 billion, a PE ratio of 52.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $892.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $844.03. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $552.01 and a 52-week high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.