M. Kraus & Co grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ: COST – Get Rating) by 35.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 814 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the quarter. M. Kraus & Co’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $ 469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Fortune 45 LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 8.6% in the first quarter. Fortune 45 LLC now owns 696 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $ 401,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $ 164,500,000. Poplar Forest Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC now owns 526 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $ 299,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,599 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $ 908,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 6,081 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $ 3,502,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.52% of the company stock.
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $ 530.00 to $ 525.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 25th. Raymond James cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $ 645.00 to $ 560.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale to $ 525.00 in a research note on Friday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $ 580.00 price objective (up from $ 560.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, June 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $ 555.00 to $ 565.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $ 569.56.
In other Costco Wholesale news, VP James P. Murphy sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $ 464.00, for a total value of $ 1,160,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 37,730 shares of the company stock, valued at $ 17,506,720. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Agnes Wilderotter bought 850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $ 470.74 per share, for a total transaction of $ 400,129.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,295 shares of the company stock, valued at approximately $ 5,317,008.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,498 shares of company stock valued at $ 4,173,309. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Shares of COST stock opened at $ 481.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $ 213.40 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.71. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $ 393.13 and a 1 year high of $ 612.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $ 490.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $ 521.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.48.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 26th. The retailer reported $ 3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $ 3.03 by $ 0.01. The company had revenue of $ 52.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $ 51.49 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 29.71% and a net margin of 2.60%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $ 2.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 29th were issued a $ 0.90 dividend. This represents a $ 3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 28th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $ 0.79. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.35%.
About Costco Wholesale: (Get Rating)
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.
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