Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 45,584 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 883,699 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 45,584 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.0% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $475,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.8% in the second quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 3,210 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 530,031 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $285,358,000 after buying an additional 6,049 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the second quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,345 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,645,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% in the second quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,604 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Busey Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 10.1% in the second quarter. Busey Wealth Management now owns 12,474 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.75, for a total value of $2,509,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,015,333.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,797,118. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $2.83 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $579.98. 397,152 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,800,492. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $447.90 and a 52 week high of $599.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $256.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.76, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $564.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $543.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.79 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.10% and a net margin of 2.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Raymond James increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $619.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $586.43.

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.