Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 832 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock traded down $4.71 on Thursday, reaching $852.13. The company had a trading volume of 509,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,684. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The company has a market cap of $377.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.77, a PEG ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $796.35 and its 200 day moving average is $736.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.