Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 26,929 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 613,112 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 26,929 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale Corporation accounts for about 0.8% of Blair William & Co. IL’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.14% of Costco Wholesale Corporation worth $104,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Main Street Research LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 4.9% in the first quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 64,704 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,850,000 after buying an additional 3,023 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,254,387 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,048,798,000 after buying an additional 79,201 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation by 26.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,597,008 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $267,802,000 after buying an additional 331,400 shares during the last quarter. Weik Investment Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation by 0.5% in the first quarter. Weik Investment Services Inc. now owns 14,148 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,372,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 31,724 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,320,000 after buying an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) traded down 0.94% on Friday, reaching $157.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,747,925 shares. The stock has a market cap of $68.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27 and a beta of 0.93. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $142.11 and a 12-month high of $183.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $155.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.38. Costco Wholesale Corporation also saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 6,031 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 231% compared to the typical volume of 1,822 put options.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 25th. The retailer reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $28.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.57 billion. Costco Wholesale Corporation had a return on equity of 20.45% and a net margin of 2.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post $5.77 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale Corporation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Costco Wholesale Corporation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.66%.

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A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research report on Friday, May 26th. UBS AG upgraded Costco Wholesale Corporation from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. set a $185.00 price target on Costco Wholesale Corporation and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays PLC restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation in a research report on Sunday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $179.11.

In other Costco Wholesale Corporation news, Director John W. Meisenbach sold 1,000 shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.25, for a total value of $159,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $792,109.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP James P. Murphy sold 5,000 shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.30, for a total value of $906,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 48,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,855,598.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,677,430. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

About Costco Wholesale Corporation

Costco Wholesale Corporation is engaged in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. As of August 28, 2016, the Company operated 715 warehouses across the world.

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