Vinva Investment Management Ltd Purchases 3,314 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 19.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,618 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,314 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 0.8% of Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth about $217,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 23.0% in the first quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. now owns 299 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% in the first quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 6,276 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 15,697 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Finally, Dock Street Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 346 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $908.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $961.55 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $582.83 and a 12-month high of $976.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $426.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $905.10 and its 200 day moving average is $869.42.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.86 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.00%.

Costco Wholesale 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.