Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Acquires New Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,322 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,000. Costco Wholesale comprises about 3.7% of Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $473,000. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.2% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 12,032 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares in the last quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 427 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,489 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,361,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Argus raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST opened at $849.99 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $524.63 and a 1-year high of $873.96. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $801.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $740.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted 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 net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.