Forefront Wealth Management Inc. Buys Shares of 5,361 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,361 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,912,000. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 4.5% of Forefront Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 17.8% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 16.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,652 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 36.5% during the third quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST opened at $909.26 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $987.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $944.60.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.