Little House Capital LLC Sells 412 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Little House Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 12.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,901 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 412 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $473,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 35.3% in the third quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,684 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 65.3% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,431 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,153,000 after purchasing an additional 5,703 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 600.0% in the third quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 3,500 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 9.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,767,810 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,000,345,000 after purchasing an additional 147,720 shares during the last quarter. 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were 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 owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $845.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $801.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $740.64. The company has a market cap of $374.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.63 and a fifty-two 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. 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 is 28.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Citigroup boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Loop Capital boosted 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

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.