MV Capital Management Inc. Acquires 2,967 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 247.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,167 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,967 shares during the quarter. MV Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 9.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,767,810 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,000,345,000 after purchasing an additional 147,720 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 30.1% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,635 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,310 shares in the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 39.4% during the third quarter. Elevatus Welath Management now owns 577 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.9% during the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $376,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 target price (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.6 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $859.36 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.63 and a fifty-two week high of $873.96. The stock has a market cap of $380.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.24, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $804.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $742.15.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast 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 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.