LifeWealth Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 455 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. LM Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 183.2% during the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 4,837 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,432,000 after buying an additional 3,129 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,772,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $236,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. Loop Capital set a $1,045.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $1,100.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price objective on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,028.46.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ COST traded down $3.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $1,010.10. 828,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,224,796. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $788.20 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $979.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $974.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $448.17 billion, a PE ratio of 59.35, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.36%.

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.