349 Shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Acquired by Seek First Inc.

Key Points

• Seek First Inc. has acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation, purchasing 349 shares valued at approximately $330,000 in the first quarter.
• Costco's latest earnings report showed revenue growth of 8% year-over-year, with earnings per share of $4.28, exceeding analyst expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30, representing an annualized payment of $5.20 and a dividend yield of 0.5%.

Seek First Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 349 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in 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 period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in 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 period. Capital World Investors raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,990,957 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,656,828,000 after purchasing an additional 18,897 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in 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 period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 2.4%

COST traded down $24.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $970.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,184,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,200,721. The company has a market capitalization of $430.35 billion, a PE ratio of 55.05, a PEG ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.96. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.16 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $971.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $986.14.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. Costco Wholesale's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of 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. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,050.00.

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.