Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Silverlake Wealth Management LLC

Silverlake Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,383 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,336,198,000 after purchasing an additional 132,292 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,581,000 after purchasing an additional 85,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on COST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $676.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $758.70.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $859.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $380.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.78. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $804.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $742.15.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

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.