Renaissance Technologies LLC Takes $4.20 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,943 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after acquiring an additional 620,341 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after acquiring an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3,647.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 567,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $374,688,000 after acquiring an additional 552,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $885.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $392.62 billion, a PE ratio of 54.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $540.23 and a one year high of $923.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $870.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $816.70.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.86 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 16.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 350 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $851.53, for a total value of $298,035.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,041,057.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,320,787.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,974 shares of company stock worth $4,252,856 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $915.00 to $925.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $950.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $980.00 target price (up previously from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $881.19.

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.