Retirement Solution LLC Acquires 291 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Retirement Solution LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 43.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 960 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 0.2% of Retirement Solution LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Retirement Solution LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stanich Group LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth about $236,000. RW Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. RW Investment Management LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,153,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer's stock worth $9,654,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.2%

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $12.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $990.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,782,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,253. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $793.00 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $1,000.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $980.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $439.14 billion, a PE ratio of 58.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.