Altman Advisors Inc. Has $1.82 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Altman Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,050 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,920 shares during the quarter. Altman Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.3% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,719 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 50.6% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 13,181 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,658,000 after purchasing an additional 4,427 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 194.1% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,453 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,995,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,114 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,934,000 after buying an additional 1,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadence Bank boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,054,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $908.81.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $923.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 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 50-day moving average is $898.80 and its 200 day moving average is $862.25. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $577.71 and a 1 year high of $962.00.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.00%.

Costco Wholesale 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.