Shikiar Asset Management Inc. Sells 398 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,762 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 398 shares during the period. Shikiar Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. Stanich Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth $236,000. RW Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $9,654,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now directly owns 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,705,164.11. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,000 shares of company stock worth $10,825,205 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded down $5.85 on Monday, reaching $984.36. The company had a trading volume of 2,103,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,409. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $436.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.80, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,000.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.10. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,035.32.

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.