Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by EWG Elevate Inc.

EWG Elevate Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 15.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 840 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the quarter. EWG Elevate Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.0 %

COST opened at $862.44 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $516.54 and a 12 month 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 cap of $382.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.43, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $785.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $729.10.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.16 per share. 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 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.