New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $18.88 Million Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,765 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 0.7% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,325 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Foguth Wealth Management LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth $259,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,363 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,464,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 6,521 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,777,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 749 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $849.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,131,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The firm has a market cap of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $739.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.