Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,113 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 338,207 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $299,669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,767,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Management raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the third quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 7,297 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 19.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 20,618 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

COST opened at $961.55 on Friday. 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 simple moving average is $906.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $870.06. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $582.83 and a 1-year high of $976.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $426.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.