Diligent Investors LLC Purchases 248 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Diligent Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,269 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.4% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing 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 $236,000. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at about $3,095,000. Rossmore Private Capital lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 6,687 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,325,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $915.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $953.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $971.61. The company has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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