Phoenix Wealth Advisors Acquires 43 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Phoenix Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,230 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. United Bank grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after buying an additional 96,566 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the first quarter valued at $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the first quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,965,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on COST shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,442 shares of company stock valued at $9,303,768. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

COST traded down $0.98 on Wednesday, hitting $714.99. The company had a trading volume of 361,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,087,159. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $730.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $658.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $476.75 and a 1 year high of $787.08. The firm has a market cap of $317.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.79, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

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.