Prentice Wealth Management LLC Has $1.30 Million Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,770 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,844,581,000 after buying an additional 85,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $3.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $859.22. The stock had a trading volume of 616,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,178. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $793.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $735.97. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $522.10 and a 52 week high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $380.92 billion, a PE ratio of 53.11, a PEG ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Argus lifted their price target 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. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given 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.

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.