Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 130 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $129,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $31,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 975.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% in the 2nd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target 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, November 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,025.07.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,860,260. This trade represents a 54.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $890.60 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $930.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $964.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $871.71 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23. The company has a market capitalization of $394.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.