L & S Advisors Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,111 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of COST. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,745,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,737,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the third quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 4,675 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,144,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% in the third quarter. Horizon Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,065.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $928.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $577.71 and a fifty-two week high of $962.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.20 billion, a PE ratio of 56.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.74 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $899.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $862.71.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

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.