AM Investment Strategies LLC Buys 103 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,935 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 0.7% of AM Investment Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. AM Investment Strategies LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 31,360 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $20,700,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Penobscot Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $217,000. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 48.3% during the 4th quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 626 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 2,763.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 168,963 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $111,529,000 after purchasing an additional 163,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 94.4% during the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 5,651 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,744 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST traded down $2.03 on Thursday, reaching $721.86. 1,612,268 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,062,339. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $320.14 billion, a PE ratio of 47.21, a PEG ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $664.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on COST shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $694.48.

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.