Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Fulcrum Capital LLC

Fulcrum Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,518 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,035.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock traded up $40.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1,048.78. The company had a trading volume of 5,400,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,051,940. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $793.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $465.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.58, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $983.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $975.63.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.36%.

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.