New England Research & Management Inc. Invests $510,000 in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

New England Research & Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 575 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Oak Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the second quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 4,396 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,737,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 995 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 790 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, LifePro Asset Management increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 358 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded down $9.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $873.59. 1,961,105 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,961,017. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $540.23 and a 1-year high of $923.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $875.41 and a 200-day moving average of $822.49. The stock has a market cap of $387.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total transaction of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.