Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 87,672 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 656.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 101,028 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,672 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $74,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after acquiring an additional 473,702 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,802,147,000 after acquiring an additional 285,533 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after acquiring an additional 85,398 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $799.33.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of COST traded up $2.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $817.60. The company had a trading volume of 1,441,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,059,285. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $841.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $766.74. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $530.56 and a 52 week high of $896.67. The company has a market capitalization of $362.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $848.53, for a total transaction of $1,272,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,327,041.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,350 shares of company stock worth $2,837,131 in the last three months. 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.