Morton Capital Management LLC CA Raises Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,594 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during 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 buying an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after buying an additional 85,398 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $3.35 on Tuesday, reaching $851.51. 312,743 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,969,244. The company has a market cap of $377.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.76, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $790.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $734.25. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $521.26 and a 1 year high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $752.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.