Simon Quick Advisors LLC Acquires 833 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 23.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,335 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Collier Financial bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,543 shares in the company, valued at $58,705,164.11. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $996.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $996.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $980.41. The firm has a market cap of $442.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.53, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

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.