Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Reduces Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP lessened its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,426 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 613 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 3.3% of Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $3,628,694,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during 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 buying an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth $510,353,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $374,688,000 after buying an additional 552,492 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $2.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $850.77. 1,684,155 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,993,453. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $530.56 and a 1-year high of $896.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $377.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $833.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $757.36.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 stock was 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 in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,135 shares of company stock worth $3,404,576 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Argus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $799.33.

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.