Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $37.04 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 397.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 40,429 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,304 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $37,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of COST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,394,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,668,069,000 after acquiring an additional 455,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on COST. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1%

COST opened at $1,008.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $447.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.23, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $771.43 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $958.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $964.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 30.36%.

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.