Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Invests $6.83 Million in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,322 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,000. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 3.7% of Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Gordon Haskett cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $849.99 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $801.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $740.64. The stock has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a PEG 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.