418 Shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Purchased by Bluesphere Advisors LLC

Bluesphere Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 418 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,496,950. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,034.79.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $2.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $985.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,128,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,073,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $436.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $1,003.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $981.10. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given 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 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.50%.

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.