Elm Partners Management LLC Invests $884,000 in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Elm Partners Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 893 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 900.0% during the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 975.0% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 72.0% during the second quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,068.15.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ COST opened at $911.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $403.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.34 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $939.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $970.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total value of $1,157,994.18. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock worth $7,373,175. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.