United Asset Strategies Inc. Boosts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,079 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in COST. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% during the 1st 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. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% in 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 stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC boosted its position 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 worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on COST. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $693.00 to $741.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $715.97 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $317.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $730.92 and a 200-day moving average of $658.84.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,442 shares of company stock valued at $9,303,768 over the last three months. Company 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.