Telos Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Telos Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,644 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 82 shares during the quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after purchasing an additional 96,566 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.28.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,442 shares of company stock worth $9,303,768. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded down $1.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $714.19. The stock had a trading volume of 675,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,091,808. The business’s fifty day moving average is $730.92 and its 200-day moving average is $658.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $316.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.79, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $476.75 and a 1-year high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

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.