Ted Buchan & Co Makes New $2.68 Million Investment in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Ted Buchan & Co acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,149 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,677,000. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 1.4% of Ted Buchan & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after acquiring an additional 473,702 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,824,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,802,147,000 after buying an additional 285,533 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,102,941,000 after buying an additional 88,550 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,790,935 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,842,241,000 after buying an additional 81,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,363,000 after buying an additional 338,780 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on COST shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $886.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $393.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.93, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $871.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $818.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total value of $437,025.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,015,745. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Costco Wholesale

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.