Richmond Investment Services LLC Acquires New Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Richmond Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 352 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of COST. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares in the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $95,452,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after purchasing an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,045.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective 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 price objective 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $1,008.50 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $788.20 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $973.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $972.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $447.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.22, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. 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 announced 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). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last quarter. Company 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.