Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 495 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 495 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $453,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital & Planning LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,441,000 after acquiring an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,214,000. May Barnhard Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $485,000. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,852 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer's stock worth $18,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $4.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $1,013.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,666,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,750. The firm has a market cap of $449.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.49, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The business's 50-day moving average price is $979.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $974.01. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $788.20 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. Equities 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,024.03.

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.