Evoke Wealth LLC Buys 196 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Evoke Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,963 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,489,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Nwam LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth about $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $984,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $898.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $398.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.73, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $989.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $945.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on COST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

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.