Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Acquired by PGIM Custom Harvest LLC

PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 49.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,155 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. TFB Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% in the first quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.6% in the first quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 356 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the first quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,718 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,517,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 42.0% in the first quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 8,250 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,803,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Breed s Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped 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 research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $994.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $971.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $986.14. The company has a market cap of $441.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.41, a P/E/G ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,300,380. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.