MJP Associates Inc. ADV Has $1.45 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 98.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,981 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after purchasing an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after purchasing an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,581,000 after acquiring an additional 85,398 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Citigroup raised 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. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $752.96.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.6 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $848.31 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $519.34 and a 1-year high of $873.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.56, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.79. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $788.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $731.70.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. 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. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were 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 directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.