Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 20.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,712 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,445 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,302,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,867 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $875.00 price objective (up from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $1.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $856.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,504,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,976,481. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $793.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $735.97. The stock has a market cap of $379.86 billion, a PE ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $522.10 and a 1-year high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The firm had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.