RFG Advisory LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

RFG Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,525 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 880 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $374,688,000 after acquiring an additional 552,492 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,915,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $752.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $848.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $376.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.56, a PEG ratio of 5.70 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. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $519.34 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $788.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $731.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted 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. 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 company posted $3.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 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 paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.75%.

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.