Lynx Investment Advisory Purchases Shares of 308 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 308 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Breakwater Capital Group purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. Capital Insight Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 758 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 21,846 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,420,000 after buying an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 617 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 116.2% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,350 shares of company stock worth $2,837,131 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on COST. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $970.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $775.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $806.42.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $15.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $816.88. The company had a trading volume of 2,475,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,001,582. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $530.56 and a 52-week high of $896.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $843.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $773.00. The company has a market capitalization of $362.15 billion, a PE ratio of 51.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

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.