Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC

Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,105 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after buying an additional 61,122 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,201,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.4 %

COST traded down $3.19 on Wednesday, reaching $856.17. 255,463 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,953,717. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $524.63 and a 52-week high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $379.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.05, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $807.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $743.56.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.