Main Street Research LLC Buys 663 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Main Street Research LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,955 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 3.8% of Main Street Research LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Main Street Research LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $58,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COST. May Barnhard Investments LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $485,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth 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 raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 117,254 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $107,436,000 after buying an additional 36,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 4,813 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,410,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on COST. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,034.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,326,171.50. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:COST traded down $4.98 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $977.11. 1,708,374 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,078,554. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,005.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $981.68. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $793.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 0.97. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.