Mayfair Advisory Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 439 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 4th 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. Finally, First National Corp MA ADV increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on COST. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $849.99 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $524.63 and a 12-month high of $873.96. The stock has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $801.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $740.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors 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 represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.