Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Holdings Lifted by Advisor Resource Council

Advisor Resource Council increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 942.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,735 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 5,185 shares during the quarter. Advisor Resource Council's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,785,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,211 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 1,291 shares of the retailer's stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 1,367 shares of the retailer's stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the retailer's stock worth $818,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $668.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.2 %

COST stock traded up $1.84 on Thursday, reaching $742.56. 2,105,929 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,214,335. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $329.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $718.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $636.07.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 26.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.

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