Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 883,699 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,584 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up 1.0% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Costco Wholesale worth $475,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,210,385 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,069,186,000 after purchasing an additional 111,505 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,851,678 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,150,426,000 after purchasing an additional 256,155 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,328,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $630.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $586.43.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded up $2.83 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $579.98. 397,152 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,800,492. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $564.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $543.03. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $447.90 and a fifty-two week high of $599.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.79 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $78.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.72 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 28.10%. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, November 3rd were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 2nd. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $566.09, for a total transaction of $1,132,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 25,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,385,479.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 67,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $566.09, for a total transaction of $1,132,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,385,479.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,265 shares of company stock valued at $10,797,118 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.