State of Michigan Retirement System Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 23.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,969 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 30,400 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 0.6% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $115,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,767,810 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,000,345,000 after purchasing an additional 147,720 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 30.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,635 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,528,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares in the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 39.4% during the third quarter. Elevatus Welath Management now owns 577 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.9% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $376,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was 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 approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Barclays upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $859.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $804.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $742.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $380.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $524.63 and a twelve month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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