Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC

Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 48.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 865 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Operose Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 290.1% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 355 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 46,846 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,466,000 after buying an additional 5,730 shares during the last quarter. O Dell Group LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. O Dell Group LLC now owns 2,385 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 7,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,969,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 9,600 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Gordon Haskett cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Argus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $1.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $857.25. The company had a trading volume of 231,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,966,170. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $793.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $735.97. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $522.10 and a one year high of $873.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $380.04 billion, a PE ratio of 53.11, a PEG ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

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.