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

Marcum Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 898 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after buying an additional 285,533 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after acquiring an additional 85,398 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,837,131 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on COST. Argus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $970.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $775.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.42.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded down $20.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $801.83. 2,818,411 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,998,352. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $530.56 and a 12-month high of $896.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $843.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $772.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $355.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

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.