Graney & King LLC Purchases Shares of 149 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 149 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $137,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $930.26 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $987.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $946.11. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The firm 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value 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 $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.