Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. Grows Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,408 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. Crescent Sterling Ltd. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.6% in the first quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 907 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 1,649 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 252.5% in the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,628 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,160,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,816,895 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,070.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,035.32.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $1,006.18 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $793.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $446.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $994.50 and a 200 day moving average of $980.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

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.