Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 37.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 805 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of COST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,688,000 after buying an additional 552,492 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $297,915,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 price objective (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Seven 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock traded down $14.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $848.31. 3,852,859 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,748,766. The firm has a market cap of $376.08 billion, a PE ratio of 52.56, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $519.34 and a 1-year high of $873.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $788.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $731.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase 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 is 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.