Moser Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 169 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Moser Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,374 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 2.2% of Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in COST. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the first quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,407 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.3% during the first quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Jericho Financial LLP boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the first quarter. Jericho Financial LLP now owns 3,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,431,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Hudson Value Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.9% during the first quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 9,257 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,755,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 129,151 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $122,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,034.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,647 shares of company stock valued at $10,530,961. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST opened at $980.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $434.74 billion, a PE ratio of 55.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $793.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,002.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $981.03.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

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.