Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Takes $1.53 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,732 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,534,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after buying an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 287.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $374,688,000 after purchasing an additional 552,492 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $877.38 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $540.23 and a 12-month high of $923.83. The company has a market capitalization of $388.97 billion, a PE ratio of 54.36, a PEG ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average of $871.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $819.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $955.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $883.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at $10,545,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $874.05, for a total transaction of $437,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,015,745. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,974 shares of company stock valued at $4,252,856. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.