Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 82 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,394 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 5,330 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,522,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42,955 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $28,353,000 after purchasing an additional 7,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 11,561 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,631,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,249,526 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $775.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $765.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $824.50.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded up $5.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $881.42. 1,464,810 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,974,630. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $530.56 and a twelve month high of $896.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.61, a PEG ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $849.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $785.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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 year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.