Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $71.37 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,411 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $71,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,201,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the first quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.9% in the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on COST shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $905.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $799.33.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $298,035.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,135 shares of company stock valued at $3,404,576 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded up $2.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $850.77. 1,684,155 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,993,453. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $530.56 and a 1-year high of $896.67. The stock has a market cap of $377.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.71, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $833.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $757.36.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale 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.