Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Harbor Investment Advisory LLC

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,808 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of COST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $374,688,000 after buying an additional 552,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Argus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $848.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.01 billion, a PE ratio of 52.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $521.26 and a 52-week high of $873.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $790.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $734.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 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.