Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 297 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,232 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 1st 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 period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 period. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the 4th 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. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5 %

COST opened at $845.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $374.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $524.63 and a 12 month high of $873.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $801.95 and a 200 day moving average of $740.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.