Parthenon LLC Has $850,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Parthenon LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,288 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 17,361 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,820,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Carderock Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,300 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,384,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Busey Trust CO raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Busey Trust CO now owns 13,211 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,464,000 after buying an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,493 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,973,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ COST traded down $3.43 on Tuesday, hitting $722.90. 1,734,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,045,451. The company has a market cap of $320.61 billion, a PE ratio of 47.28, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $730.40 and a 200-day moving average of $669.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948. 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.