Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Capital Management Associates Inc

Capital Management Associates Inc increased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 75.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 869 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Capital Management Associates Inc's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $236,000. Umpqua Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,134,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 68,976 shares of the retailer's stock worth $63,200,000 after purchasing an additional 16,967 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. This represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on COST. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,034.79.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $6.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $985.84. 1,714,765 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,073,564. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. 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 capitalization of $437.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.92, a PEG ratio of 6.17 and a beta of 0.97. The company's 50 day moving average price is $1,005.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $981.65.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.