Cullinan Associates Inc. Trims Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Cullinan Associates Inc. cut its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,882 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,964 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $13,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% during the first quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 18,202 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,335,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 26.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 158,730 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $116,290,000 after acquiring an additional 32,845 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.4% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.5% during the first quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 499 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.6% during the first quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,031 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $758.70.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $8.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $853.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 439,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,960,017. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $524.63 and a 52 week high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $378.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $801.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $740.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 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.