1834 Investment Advisors Co. Lowers Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

1834 Investment Advisors Co. decreased its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,705 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after purchasing an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in 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. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets restated 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. Barclays raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:COST traded up $23.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $885.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,620,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,559,025. The firm has a market capitalization of $392.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $816.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $746.64. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $524.63 and a 12-month high of $886.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.