Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP Has $39.11 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,246 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,810 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.7% of Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $39,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 42.3% in the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,727 shares of company stock worth $8,170,388 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $1.74 during trading 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $730.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $661.22. 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 Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $314.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

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.