Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC

Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 19.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 755 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,640,940,000 after buying an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after acquiring an additional 132,292 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,581,000 after buying an additional 85,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $7.35 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $855.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,673,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,979,912. The company has a market cap of $379.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $521.26 and a one year high of $873.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $793.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $735.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $777.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $676.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $756.85.

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.