Versant Capital Management Inc Increases Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 473 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 14 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% in the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 52.1% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 7,645 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,499,000 after buying an additional 2,620 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 22.8% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,533 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,003,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 30.8% in the second quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspiriant LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.1% during the first quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 2,327 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,705,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $780.00 to $880.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $883.04.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $873.59 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $387.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $540.23 and a 1-year high of $923.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $875.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $822.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,041,057.60. 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. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.