Cohen Capital Management Inc. Has $4.75 Million Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Cohen Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,483 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Cohen Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $765.00 to $830.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $796.56.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ:COST traded down $37.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $846.59. The stock had a trading volume of 6,011,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,985,298. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $530.56 and a one year high of $896.67. 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 company has a market cap of $375.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average is $827.90 and its 200-day moving average is $752.35.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.