Rydar Equities Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,451 Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Rydar Equities Inc. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,451 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,426,000. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 1.9% of Rydar Equities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Peterson Wealth Services raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the second quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 13,616 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,479,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 16,888 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,718,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 15,799 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $15,640,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,920,107,000 after buying an additional 711,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,638 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $20,430,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock valued at $9,010,257 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,125.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $992.70.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $860.56 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $851.40 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $915.22 and a 200 day moving average of $949.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $382.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09, a PEG ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The retailer reported $4.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 29.35%. The firm had revenue of $67.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.85%.

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.