L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,352 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 2.8% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $22,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Rice Partnership LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,358 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,837,000 after purchasing an additional 4,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resources Management Corp CT ADV boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1,396.0% in the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 14,960 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,054,000 after purchasing an additional 13,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $732.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,713,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,605,208. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a PE ratio of 47.92, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $725.19 and a 200-day moving average of $643.24. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 26.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on COST. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $668.50.

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.