King Luther Capital Management Corp Buys 1,554 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,185 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,554 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $37,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 3,081 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,823,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 525 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,649 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,235,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST stock opened at $934.41 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $989.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $944.28. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $414.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, February 14th. TD Cowen upped their price objective 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,030.43.

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.