Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Takes Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,231 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after purchasing an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,665,921,000 after purchasing an additional 149,209 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,182,316,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $1,055.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $468.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.98, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $988.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $977.58. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $793.00 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.36%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,035.32.

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.