Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 933 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,080 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 933 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 2.8% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $24,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. Vicus Capital boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 42.7% in the first quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 471 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $259,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.0% in the first quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 370.4% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 127 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $891.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $891.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $839.41. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83. The firm has a market cap of $394.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.80.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $894.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at $20,560,344. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.