First Personal Financial Services Sells 376 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

First Personal Financial Services decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,775 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 376 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.6% of First Personal Financial Services’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after buying an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 7,364,453 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after buying an additional 285,533 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after buying an additional 88,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,363,000 after buying an additional 338,780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital boosted 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 report on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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, Melius Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 price target on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $905.30.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $943.80 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $562.01 and a 1-year high of $962.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $893.49 and a 200 day moving average of $850.73. The firm has a market cap of $418.17 billion, a PE ratio of 56.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 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.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $20,560,344. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $20,560,344. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,155,409.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.