Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC Grows Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on COST. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Gordon Haskett downgraded 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ COST traded down $3.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $856.17. The stock had a trading volume of 255,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,953,717. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $807.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $743.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The stock has a market cap of $379.57 billion, a PE ratio of 53.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 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.