Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Signal Advisors Wealth LLC

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 52.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,744 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Enclave Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 37.3% during the 1st quarter. Enclave Advisors LLC now owns 1,582 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,926,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Fjell Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Fjell Capital LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,375,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 961.7% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 23,146 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $21,891,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial raised 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.4%

COST stock traded up $4.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $1,014.94. 1,852,907 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,058,141. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $993.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $979.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.60, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $793.00 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 over the last quarter. Company 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.