Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC

Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 48.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 915 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COST. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $991.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $963.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $957.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $440.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.23, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $715.32 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 30.36%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.