Northcape Wealth Management LLC Reduces Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,833 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 1.8% of Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:COST traded up $23.01 on Friday, hitting $885.67. 2,620,714 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,559,025. The stock has a market cap of $392.64 billion, a PE ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $816.01 and a 200-day moving average of $746.64. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.63 and a fifty-two week high of $886.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $758.70.

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.