Wambolt & Associates LLC Decreases Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wambolt & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,906 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 1.4% of Wambolt & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Nine 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.8 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $926.04 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $987.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $945.73. The company has a market capitalization of $410.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. 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 27.09%.

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.