Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Simplicity Wealth LLC

Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 252.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,617 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,591 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,160,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,408,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 6,554 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,199,000 after buying an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,093,000. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.9%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $1,006.18 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $793.00 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $446.42 billion, a PE ratio of 59.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $994.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $980.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,816,895 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.