Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC Acquires 204 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,242 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of COST. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at $195,000. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 95.0% in the 3rd quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 468 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 29,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $25,886,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $895.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $397.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $988.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $944.49. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

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.