Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells $1,793,420.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $4.85 on Tuesday, hitting $894.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,613,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,117. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $540.23 and a twelve month high of $923.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $884.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $829.12. The company has a market capitalization of $396.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 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 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 company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 price target (up previously from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 27th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $886.74.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. 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 worth $1,253,508,000 after buying an additional 1,473,248 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after buying an additional 473,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

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.