Oarsman Capital Inc. Purchases Shares of 365 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Oarsman Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 365 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evolution Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. AHL Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 102 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.52% of the company’s stock.

Shares of COST traded up $11.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $497.27. 2,337,780 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,523,248. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $554.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $534.66. The company has a market cap of $220.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $375.50 and a 1 year high of $612.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.18. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 30.10%. The company had revenue of $51.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, April 29th were given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 28th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 29.01%.

Several equities analysts have commented on COST shares. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $605.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $555.00 to $565.00 in a report on Thursday, May 5th. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $570.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 4th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $520.00 to $678.00 in a report on Thursday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $620.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $576.79.

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Timothy L. Rose sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $566.29, for a total value of $2,265,160.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.67, for a total transaction of $138,667.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,248 shares of company stock valued at $5,417,137 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Costco Wholesale (Get Rating)

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.

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