Oak Ridge Investments LLC Purchases 249 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,192 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 1.4% of Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $19,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after acquiring an additional 18,045 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after acquiring an additional 125,441 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,066.23.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.4%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $930.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $952.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $972.00. The company has a market cap of $412.16 billion, a PE ratio of 51.07, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $867.34 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.