LexAurum Advisors LLC Buys 13 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

LexAurum Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,538 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stanich Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. RW Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,654,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washburn Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Washburn Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,140 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on COST. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ COST opened at $1,014.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $450.31 billion, a PE ratio of 59.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $793.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $993.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $979.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.