134 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Purchased by VSM Wealth Advisory LLC

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 134 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $123,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of COST. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,489,574,000 after buying an additional 32,074 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,020,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $984,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $904.05 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $988.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $944.83. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $401.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.