Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Acas LLC

Acas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,579 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 2.4% of Acas LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Acas LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,489,574,000 after buying an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 8,046 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,133,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $8,430,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price target (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,021.93.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $1,026.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $455.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.28, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.84. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $989.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $942.33. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.25%.

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.