Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Has $184.64 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208,274 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,552 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 3.5% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $184,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $710,802,000 after buying an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,266,000 after buying an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at approximately $285,618,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on COST shares. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,065.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $908.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were 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 owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This trade represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $964.01 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $901.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $866.19. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $582.83 and a one year high of $976.30. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $427.12 billion, a PE ratio of 58.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.80.

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 business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 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.