Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Tradewinds Capital Management LLC

Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,472 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,767,810 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,000,345,000 after acquiring an additional 147,720 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 30.1% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,635 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,528,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares during the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 39.4% in the third quarter. Elevatus Welath Management now owns 577 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.9% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at $376,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on COST shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Gordon Haskett lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Argus raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $1.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $860.76. 449,144 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,955,255. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $807.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $743.56. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $524.63 and a 1-year high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $381.60 billion, a PE ratio of 53.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid 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 a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

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