Walker Financial Services Inc. Invests $207,000 in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Walker Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 282 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 0.2% of Walker Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth 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. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the fourth 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. First National Corp MA ADV grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 1,564 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Advisors LLC PA boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 2,736 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $2.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $845.95. The stock had a trading volume of 196,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,081. The stock has a market cap of $375.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $521.26 and a 12-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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $788.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $732.58.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Argus raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $752.96.

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.