Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST is Doheny Asset Management CA’s 7th Largest Position

Doheny Asset Management CA raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,230 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 3.1% of Doheny Asset Management CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Doheny Asset Management CA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 396,217 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $346,912,000 after buying an additional 19,402 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 6,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,819,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,383 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,548,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 181,008 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $171,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 71,923 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $67,454,000 after acquiring an additional 6,046 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $958.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $969.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $985.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $425.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.96. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.16 and a one year high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. Analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,147 shares of company stock worth $10,067,740. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Erste Group Bank downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,050.00.

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.