Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Bought by Aspen Investment Management Inc

Aspen Investment Management Inc grew its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 42.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,063 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the quarter. Aspen Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,461,159,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $768,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $280,046,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $979.25 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $867.16 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market cap of $434.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.54, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average of $961.73 and a 200-day moving average of $976.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,147 shares of company stock valued at $5,031,130. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,056.67.

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.