Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell D. Miller Sells 4,400 Shares

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value 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 $9,091,512.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $885.29 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $540.23 and a 1-year high of $923.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $888.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $831.04. 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 company has a market cap of $392.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,376 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,631,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 54,977 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $48,739,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517 shares during the period. Pachira Investments Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pachira Investments Inc. now owns 1,090 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $966,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Trust Point Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 2,835 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,513,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $890.07.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.