283 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Bought by Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc.

Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 283 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 116,942 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $85,675,000 after acquiring an additional 9,344 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 24.7% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 10,110 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 21,861 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $16,016,000 after buying an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth approximately $215,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $849.13 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $376.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $796.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $736.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $524.63 and a 52-week high of $873.96.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.