Financial Management Professionals Inc. Sells 23 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 490 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $849.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average of $739.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $524.63 and a 1-year high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

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.