BluePointe Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

BluePointe Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 57.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 521 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of COST. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 194.6% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,246 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $44,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,763 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 191,377 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $175,353,000 after purchasing an additional 87,392 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 1,024 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 21,472 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,674,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $904.05 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market cap of $401.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $988.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $944.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.09%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

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.