S. R. Schill & Associates Increases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

S. R. Schill & Associates lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 67.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 445 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for 0.3% of S. R. Schill & Associates’ portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. S. R. Schill & Associates’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,441,000 after acquiring an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,214,000. May Barnhard Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $485,000. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,852 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on COST. Wall Street Zen raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,034.79.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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 Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of COST stock opened at $977.72 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $793.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,002.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $981.16.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio 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.