Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC Invests $3.09 Million in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,270 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,093,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $11,605,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,704 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,261,000 after buying an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 8,353 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,900,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 111.9% during the 1st quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $47,289,000 after buying an additional 26,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,291 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $23,920,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,210 shares in the company, valued at $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,816,895. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $1,006.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $446.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $994.50 and a 200 day moving average of $980.11.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.