Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells 4,400 Shares of Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $4.85 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $894.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,422,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,951,158. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $884.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $829.12. The stock has a market cap of $396.61 billion, a PE ratio of 55.54, a PEG ratio of 5.53 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. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $540.23 and a 12 month high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during 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 was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $886.74.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 62.8% during the 3rd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 2,417 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,143,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 52.1% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 7,645 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.