Independent Family Office LLC Increases Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Independent Family Office LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 14.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 570 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Independent Family Office LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 18,977 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,824,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 41,946 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $37,186,000 after acquiring an additional 13,697 shares in the last quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 3,072 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth $7,203,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $3.18 on Tuesday, reaching $978.18. 179,834 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,919,412. The firm has a market capitalization of $433.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.84, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $591.46 and a fifty-two week high of $979.90. The business’s 50-day moving average is $907.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $872.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $908.81.

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.