Grimes & Company Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Grimes & Company Inc. lowered its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,862 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 877 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at $473,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 71.2% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 13,207 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,461,000 after buying an additional 5,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.7% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,349 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,457,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $739.95. 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 has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

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.