L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Decreases Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP reduced its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 34,352 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 2.8% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $22,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. United Bank increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $220,948,000 after purchasing an additional 96,566 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on COST shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $612.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Raymond James increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $668.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

COST stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $732.63. 1,713,268 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,605,208. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $725.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $643.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 26.68%.

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.