Asio Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Asio Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 745 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the quarter. Asio Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after purchasing an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after purchasing 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% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing 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% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock opened at $849.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $739.18. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $524.63 and a 1-year high of $873.96.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 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.