Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV Has $4.74 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV trimmed its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,015 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 1.0% of Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,689 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,203,857 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,138,584,000 after buying an additional 135,085 shares during the period. Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,091,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 20,327 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,906,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,460 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,218,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on COST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,210 shares in the company, valued at $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1%

COST stock opened at $1,007.27 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $793.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $446.70 billion, a PE ratio of 59.15, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $995.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $980.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

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.