Wambolt & Associates LLC Trims Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,302 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 1.4% of Wambolt & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of COST. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $626,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.5% during the first quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 51,817 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,963,000 after buying an additional 11,490 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $17,913,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,025 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

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

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 2.7 %

COST traded up $23.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $885.67. 2,620,714 shares of the stock were exchanged, 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 firm has a market cap of $392.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $816.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $746.64. 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 return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

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.