Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Holdings Raised by Tsfg LLC

Tsfg LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 17.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 834 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Tsfg LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Argus increased 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. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, June 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $849.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $801.95 and a 200-day moving average of $739.18. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $524.63 and a 52 week high of $873.96. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale 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.