Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 3,094 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,142 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,094 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 0.5% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $50,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 626 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,802 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,915 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 52,134 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,413,000 after purchasing an additional 3,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmignac Gestion grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 175.5% during the 4th quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 11,750 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,760,000 after purchasing an additional 7,485 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 target price (up from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $886.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $871.45 and a 200-day moving average of $818.37. The company has a market cap of $393.03 billion, a PE ratio of 54.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $540.23 and a one year high of $923.83.

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. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.