Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Acquired by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,151 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $40,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358,859 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $768,114,000 after buying an additional 370,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2,369.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 323,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $320,036,000 after buying an additional 310,197 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,063.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,860,260. This represents a 54.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 10,320 shares of company stock worth $9,605,487 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $925.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.98 billion, a PE ratio of 50.80, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $871.71 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $935.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $967.11.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.56%.

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.