Williamson Legacy Group LLC Purchases 21 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Williamson Legacy Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,212 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Williamson Legacy Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,861 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $979,284,000 after purchasing an additional 382,367 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $157,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on COST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,021.93.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $1,048.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $982.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $937.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $465.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.57, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.84. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.25%.

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.