Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Park Edge Advisors LLC

Park Edge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,450 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Park Edge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 30.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,635 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,310 shares in the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. Elevatus Welath Management now owns 577 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Finally, Laird Norton Trust Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Laird Norton Trust Company LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock traded up $3.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $862.66. 814,423 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,709,054. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $524.63 and a one year high of $873.96. The stock has a market cap of $382.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $810.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $744.39. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

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.