Bessemer Group Inc. Has $829.06 Million Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 876,584 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 101,220 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 1.5% of Bessemer Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Costco Wholesale worth $829,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted 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 acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $95,452,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $2.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $985.14. 2,128,085 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,073,406. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $793.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market cap of $436.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock's 50-day moving average is $1,004.08 and its 200-day moving average is $981.26.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,034.79.

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.