Callan Capital LLC Acquires 117 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Callan Capital LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,325 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the quarter. Callan Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $875,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Overbrook Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 1,553 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 6,736 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,446,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 3,935 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,598,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 31,360 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,700,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Wealth Management bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $694.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,727 shares of company stock worth $2,682,948. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $7.32 on Friday, reaching $729.18. 1,524,431 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,663,722. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $730.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $666.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The firm has a market cap of $323.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.35%.

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.