Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Sunbelt Securities Inc.

23 May 2025, 14:08 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Free Report) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,957 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stanich Group LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after buying an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. Brentview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $4,522,000. Manuka Financial LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $258,000. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $1,494,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.7%

COST opened at $1,018.13 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $788.20 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $971.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $971.25. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $451.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

(Free Report)