Rakuten Securities Inc. Purchases 64 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 360 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $330,000 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. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 113.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter valued at approximately $994,000. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 13.4% during the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,376 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $930.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $413.04 billion, a PE ratio of 54.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $697.27 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $990.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $944.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

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.