VitalStone Financial LLC Purchases New Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 118 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $847.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,441,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,377. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $827.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $752.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $375.64 billion, a PE ratio of 52.24, a PEG ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $530.56 and a fifty-two week high of $896.67.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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 return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $890.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $799.33.

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.