Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,548 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,066 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 0.7% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $79,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $3,095,000. Rossmore Private Capital grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This trade represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. This trade represents a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Argus raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2%

COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.34 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $405.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $953.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.15.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.56%.

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.