Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) is Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,816 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up 2.9% of Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,302,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $179,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $849.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $524.63 and a one year high of $873.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $801.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $740.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Seven 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale 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.