Dorsey Wright & Associates Acquires New Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,338 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,294,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Corps Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Corps Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Park Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Redwood Park Advisors LLC now owns 173 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Luminist Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.4% in the first quarter. Luminist Capital LLC now owns 128 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Birchbrook Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.5% during the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 456 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $947.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,115.00 price target on the stock. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,025.07.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.9%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $895.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $396.68 billion, a PE ratio of 49.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $871.71 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $932.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $964.95.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,260. This trade represents a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.