Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,955 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth $236,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,654,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Umpqua Bank boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,134,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $1,001.92 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,003.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $981.25. The firm has a market cap of $444.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,647 shares of company stock valued at $10,530,961 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.