Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Position Lifted by Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC

Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,816 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 2.9% of Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,581,000 after buying an additional 85,398 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $849.99 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $740.64. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.63 and a fifty-two week high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

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.