Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC

Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 400 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $905.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $815.00 to $873.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $849.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $524.63 and a 1 year high of $873.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $801.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $739.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.