Park Place Capital Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Park Place Capital Corp lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 29.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 726 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 305 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $845.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $374.91 billion, a PE ratio of 52.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $801.95 and a 200-day moving average of $740.64. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $524.63 and a 52-week high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on COST. Loop Capital upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.