Goldstone Financial Group LLC Has $862,000 Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 52.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 911 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,441,000 after buying an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $1,214,000. May Barnhard Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $485,000. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,852 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,529,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.2%

COST opened at $990.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,000.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $980.83. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $439.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.15, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,000 shares of company stock worth $10,825,205 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.