Bowman & Co S.C. Acquires New Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Bowman & Co S.C. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 299 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale 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 value of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COST. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $856.84 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $793.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $735.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.09, a PEG ratio of 5.66 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 52-week low of $522.10 and a 52-week high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share 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 of this dividend 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 0.54%. 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.