Heritage Investment Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Heritage Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 455 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 26 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,302,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 43.0% during the third quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,643 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $179,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,122 shares in the last quarter. Rice Partnership LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 814 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,727 shares of company stock worth $8,170,388. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock traded down $1.74 on Friday, reaching $709.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,190,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,668,139. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $730.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $661.22. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $476.75 and a 1 year high of $787.08. The company has a market capitalization of $314.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

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.