Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Has $2.83 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,898 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.1% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,034.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $977.72 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,002.19 and its 200 day moving average is $981.16. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $793.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $433.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.46, a PEG ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.