Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Purchases New Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,000 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $11,912,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COST. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,430,000. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $984,000. Stanich Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Brentview Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at $4,522,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $999.03 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $957.50 and a 200 day moving average of $965.16. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $771.43 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The company has a market capitalization of $443.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.66, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.02 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 30.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.

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