Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Holdings Raised by Opinicus Capital Inc.

Opinicus Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,815 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 1.2% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST traded down $0.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $849.99. 2,131,691 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.63 and a fifty-two week high of $873.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $801.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $739.18.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale Profile

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.