L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Lowers Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,097 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,429 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 3.1% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $25,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Stanich Group LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the period. Flavin Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,494,000. RW Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,153,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the period. Finally, AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,654,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. DA Davidson upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $1,051.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $991.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $978.09. The company has a market capitalization of $466.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.76, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.