Connecticut Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

22 May 2025, 09:18 by Scott Moore · The Cerbat Gem

Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,011 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,665,921,000 after buying an additional 149,209 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $5,182,316,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

View Our Latest Analysis on COST

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $1,025.30 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $788.20 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $454.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.21, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $968.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $970.34.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

About Costco Wholesale

(Free Report)

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.