Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 37.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,143 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspect Partners LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 24.4% in the first quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,034.79.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,496,950. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $989.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $439.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,004.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $981.06. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $793.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

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.