Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Acquires 70 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,168 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises 1.1% of Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.4% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 3,990 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,254,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 16.4% in the third quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 441 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.6% in the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 877 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 104.7% in the third quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 21,891 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $12,368,000 after buying an additional 11,195 shares during the period. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth about $473,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on COST. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $849.99 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $524.63 and a 12-month high of $873.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $801.95 and its 200 day moving average is $739.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 currently 28.75%.

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.