CWC Advisors LLC. Takes $311,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

CWC Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 329 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. May Barnhard Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $485,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer's stock worth $18,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 188 shares of the retailer's stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 117,254 shares of the retailer's stock worth $107,436,000 after buying an additional 36,384 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,161,193.58. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,496,950 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $4.80 on Monday, reaching $989.94. 2,125,819 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,073,389. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,003.90 and a 200 day moving average of $981.05. The company has a market capitalization of $439.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.15, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $793.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 EPS. The company's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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