11,541 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Purchased by Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX

Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,541 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $10,774,000. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 2.7% of Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after buying an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $95,452,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer's stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $1,070.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,028.46.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded down $2.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $1,011.02. 881,685 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,045,241. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business's fifty day moving average price is $979.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $974.01. The company has a market cap of $448.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.35, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $788.20 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.