Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $125.83 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,322 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 14,330 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $125,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanich Group LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares during the period. Brentview Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,522,000. Manuka Financial LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $258,000. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,494,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,028.46.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $4.40 on Thursday, reaching $1,008.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,010,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,048,712. 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 company has a market cap of $447.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.23, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average price is $979.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $974.01. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $788.20 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.03. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date 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 is 30.36%.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.