Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,270 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,093,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 17.2% in the first quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 16.9% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,704 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.3% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 8,353 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 111.9% during the first quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $47,289,000 after acquiring an additional 26,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the first quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,291 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $23,920,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $1,006.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $994.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $980.11. The stock has a market cap of $446.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $793.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,816,895 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.