Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Has $875,000 Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 28.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 925 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 359 shares during the quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer's stock worth $38,668,069,000 after purchasing an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,665,921,000 after acquiring an additional 149,209 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $5,182,316,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were 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. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1,007.27. The stock had a trading volume of 2,251,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,060,106. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $446.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.15, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $995.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $980.29.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Cfra Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,035.32.

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.