Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,269 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,391 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $74,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 43.0% in the third quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Rice Partnership LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.0% during the third quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 814 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:COST traded down $3.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $711.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,582,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,094,678. The stock has a market cap of $315.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $730.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $659.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,942 shares of company stock valued at $7,602,943 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% 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.