Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by E&G Advisors LP

E&G Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 354 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the quarter. E&G Advisors LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,688,000 after acquiring an additional 552,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after purchasing an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Argus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $758.70.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $3.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $862.66. The company had a trading volume of 814,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,958,381. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $524.63 and a one year high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $382.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.45, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $807.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $743.56.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 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.