Argentarii LLC Buys Shares of 4,363 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Argentarii LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 4,363 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,998,000. Costco Wholesale accounts for 2.0% of Argentarii LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. now owns 12,087 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,075,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $30,593,000. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 3,360 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Coordinated Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $1,216,000. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,352 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $964.31 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company has a market capitalization of $428.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.62, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $989.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $943.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.