Guidance Capital Inc. Increases Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Guidance Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,325 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,688,000 after acquiring an additional 552,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

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

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $849.99. 2,131,691 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The company has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $739.95.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.