Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 31 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,471 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.4% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 17,140 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,683,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 14.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 512,251 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $289,027,000 after purchasing an additional 63,112 shares during the last quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the third quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 14,476 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 504.7% during the third quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 18,977 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,721,000 after acquiring an additional 15,839 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $694.48.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $12.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $768.82. The company had a trading volume of 902,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,024,653. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $730.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $674.43. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $476.75 and a 52-week high of $787.08. The stock has a market cap of $340.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.25, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

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.