Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by SOL Capital Management CO

SOL Capital Management CO increased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,634 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. SOL Capital Management CO's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. Umpqua Bank raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,134,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,034.79.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of COST stock traded up $2.23 on Friday, hitting $985.14. The stock had a trading volume of 2,128,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,070,142. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $793.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,004.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.26. The company has a market cap of $436.89 billion, a PE ratio of 55.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.