New Century Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 412 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,004,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Argus increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $862.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $382.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.45, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $812.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $745.22. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $524.63 and a 52 week high of $873.96.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. 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. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.