Successful Portfolios LLC Sells 83 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Successful Portfolios LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 17.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 392 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth $473,000. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,296,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 12,032 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,798,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 427 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,489 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,361,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $849.99 on Monday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $740.64. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The stock has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.