VitalStone Financial LLC Takes $86,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 118 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 25,383 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,597,000 after purchasing an additional 4,027 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,477,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Mittelman Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth $1,620,000. Cohen Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,483 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,750,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 91,729 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $67,203,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $765.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 price objective (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $799.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $847.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,441,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,377. The firm has a market cap of $375.64 billion, a PE ratio of 52.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $530.56 and a 1-year high of $896.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $827.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $752.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.