Peterson Wealth Services Acquires New Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Peterson Wealth Services purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,162 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $10,010,000. Costco Wholesale comprises 4.3% of Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. United Bank increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after purchasing an additional 96,566 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of 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, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.28.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,942 shares of company stock valued at $7,602,943. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $1.36 on Thursday, reaching $716.55. 490,726 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,078,984. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $730.83 and its 200-day moving average is $659.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $317.79 billion, a PE ratio of 46.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.