Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Has $270,000 Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 409 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 42.3% during the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 888.9% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on COST shares. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Northcoast Research downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $612.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $668.50.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $731.08. 734,361 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,142,847. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $476.75 and a 1-year high of $787.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.23 billion, a PE ratio of 47.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $723.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $641.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.