DLK Investment Management LLC Has $9.38 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

DLK Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,803 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 4.0% of DLK Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. DLK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Operose Advisors LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 290.1% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 355 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 46,846 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,466,000 after purchasing an additional 5,730 shares in the last quarter. O Dell Group LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. O Dell Group LLC now owns 2,385 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 7,025 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,969,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 9,600 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock traded up $1.96 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $857.47. The stock had a trading volume of 275,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,966,534. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $522.10 and a 12 month high of $873.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $793.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $735.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $380.14 billion, a PE ratio of 53.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.