Forefront Wealth Management Inc. Makes New $4.91 Million Investment in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,361 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $4,912,000. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 4.5% of Forefront Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $729,476,000 after purchasing an additional 795,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer's stock worth $979,284,000 after purchasing an additional 382,367 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after buying an additional 324,973 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,299,535 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,132,519,000 after buying an additional 231,969 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $4.22 on Tuesday, reaching $930.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,621,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,823,339. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $987.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $945.73. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. 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 company has a market cap of $412.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.62, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

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.