Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Prosperity Consulting Group LLC

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,073 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,849 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,018,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the period. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $626,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 51,817 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,963,000 after acquiring an additional 11,490 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,913,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 59,972 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,937,000 after acquiring an additional 3,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 price target (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock traded up $23.01 on Friday, reaching $885.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,620,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,559,025. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $886.94. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $816.01 and its 200 day moving average is $746.64. The company has a market cap of $392.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. 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 company earned $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.