Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 574 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,718,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $20,430,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $3,095,000. Finally, Rossmore Private Capital raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,325,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,115.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,068.15.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $944.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $946.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $971.28. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.34 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $418.66 billion, a PE ratio of 51.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.56%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.