Castle Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Castle Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,166 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 20 shares during the quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $709.51. 2,188,979 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,098,958. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $730.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $660.55. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $314.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,727 shares of company stock worth $8,170,388 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.