Kathmere Capital Management LLC Purchases 748 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 29.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,300 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 748 shares during the quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 552,492 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’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 owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $849.99 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $524.63 and a 52 week high of $873.96. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $801.95 and its 200-day moving average is $739.18. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.