Lake Street Private Wealth LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Lake Street Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,879 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up 1.2% of Lake Street Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diligent Investors LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. KWB Wealth boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. KWB Wealth now owns 1,990 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,823,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,055 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,836,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,969,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grassi Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 5,408 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,115,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,035.32.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $1,051.69 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $793.00 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $991.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $978.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $466.62 billion, a PE ratio of 61.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

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.