Independence Bank of Kentucky Buys 25 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,130 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,302,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $179,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

COST stock traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $849.99. 2,131,691 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $524.63 and a twelve month high of $873.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $801.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $739.18.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Costco Wholesale Company 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.