Baron Wealth Management LLC Takes $263,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Baron Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 297 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 557.1% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $48,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 73.5% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the second quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 230.0% during the second quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 66 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Truist Financial cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $676.00 to $755.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $927.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $919.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $407.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $577.34 and a 52 week high of $962.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $898.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $860.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.