F&V Capital Management LLC Takes $236,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 250 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,665,921,000 after buying an additional 149,209 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $5,182,316,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine 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.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $1,002.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $444.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.88, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $793.00 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $998.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $980.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,000 shares of company stock worth $10,825,205. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.