Seelaus Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Seelaus Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 924 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Connections Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 73.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $58,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity 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 transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $905.30.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $907.07 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $572.24 and a fifty-two week high of $962.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $897.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $857.72. The stock has a market cap of $401.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.80. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.00%.

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.