Headland Capital LLC Buys 134 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Headland Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,160 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 2.7% of Headland Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Headland Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,215 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,132,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118.9% in the second quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,221,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963 shares in the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter valued at $48,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 80,392 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $79,584,000 after buying an additional 5,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HORAN Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 2nd quarter valued at about $541,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,063.88.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of COST opened at $923.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $409.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.72, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $871.71 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $938.53 and a 200 day moving average of $969.02.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

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.