Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Buys 51 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,181 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4,709.1% in the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 529 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,729 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $23,575,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak now owns 477 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Semper Augustus Investments Group LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Semper Augustus Investments Group LLC now owns 4,350 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on COST. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Cfra Research raised Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on 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. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, May 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.5%

COST stock opened at $1,025.83 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $788.20 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $961.47 and its 200 day moving average is $967.73. The company has a market capitalization of $455.14 billion, a PE ratio of 60.24, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. 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 issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.