New Hampshire Trust Cuts Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

New Hampshire Trust lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,013 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.0% of New Hampshire Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farmers Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at $216,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 41.7% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 748 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the first quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 35,192 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $25,783,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.9% in the first quarter. Great Waters Wealth Management now owns 1,727 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emprise Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $2,132,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Argus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

COST opened at $862.44 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $516.54 and a one year high of $873.96. The company has a market cap of $382.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.43, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.79. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $785.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $729.10.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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