Financial Perspectives Inc Trims Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Financial Perspectives Inc lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 775 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 price objective (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $758.70.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded up $3.30 on Thursday, reaching $862.66. The stock had a trading volume of 814,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,709,054. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $524.63 and a twelve month high of $873.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $382.44 billion, a PE ratio of 53.45, a PEG ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $810.06 and a 200 day moving average of $744.39. 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 earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale Profile

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.