2,162 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Acquired by Apella Capital LLC

Apella Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,162 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $2,328,844,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the 4th 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. CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $245,698,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,595,523 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,780,247,000 after acquiring an additional 535,776 shares during the last quarter. 66.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on COST. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $475.00 to $510.00 in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, August 23rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $575.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $566.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.00, for a total value of $834,145.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,104,357. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $564.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $250.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $550.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $518.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $447.90 and a 1-year high of $571.16.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 25th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.22%.

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, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.