Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 861 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 57 shares during the period. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 749 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Vicus Capital raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 42.7% in the first quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 471 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the first quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the first quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,697 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,372,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opinicus Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the first quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 1,815 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,330,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $849.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,131,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The stock has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $801.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $739.95. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $524.63 and a 52 week high of $873.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.