Bath Savings Trust Co Purchases 941 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,405 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 941 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 1.7% of Bath Savings Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $15,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Glenview Trust co raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.7% during the third quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,019 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,965,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.9% during the third quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 324,637 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $183,396,000 after acquiring an additional 21,038 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $208,000. TFB Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 10.7% during the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 20.4% during the third quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,239 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $751.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $870.75 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $516.54 and a twelve month high of $873.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $783.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $728.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $386.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. Analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.