Leo Wealth LLC Invests $2.54 Million in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,642 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,536,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,855 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,302,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,763 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 272,288 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $179,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,122 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 21,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Partnership LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 11,741 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $867.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $384.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $777.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $725.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $516.54 and a 52-week high of $870.56.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $58.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 30.02%. The business’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 business earned $3.43 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 28.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on COST. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $845.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $751.85.

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.