Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC Sells 57 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 861 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $756.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of COST traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $849.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,131,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm 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 12 month low of $524.63 and a 12 month high of $873.96. The company has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.