Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Towerpoint Wealth LLC

Towerpoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 659 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $483,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 9,600 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 408 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 535 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 2,956 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 3,990 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COST. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $851.82 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $524.63 and a 12 month high of $873.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $377.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.79. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $796.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $736.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 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 $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s 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.