Calton & Associates Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,678 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,587,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,095,000. Finally, Umpqua Bank boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,134,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,037.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded down $2.53 during trading on Monday, reaching $948.42. 1,033,360 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,063,648. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $793.00 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $420.61 billion, a PE ratio of 53.86, a PEG ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $998.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $983.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510 over the last three months. 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.