Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Mayfair Advisory Group LLC

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 14.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 439 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Enterprise Financial Services Corp lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, First National Corp MA ADV increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 3,098 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $849.99 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $801.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $740.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $524.63 and a twelve month high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.