PGIM Custom Harvest LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 49.2% in Q1, owning 5,155 shares valued at approximately $4.88 million.
• Costco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.5%.
• Equity analysts are generally optimistic, with an average price target of $1,050.00 and 17 analysts rating the stock as a Buy.

PGIM Custom Harvest LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 49.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,155 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during 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. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of COST stock traded down $11.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $958.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,132,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,129,634. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $867.16 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $425.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.37, a P/E/G ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $969.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $985.46.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.