BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC Has $3.18 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,467 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 11 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises 1.8% of BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,177,000 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 COST. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 55,041 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $48,795,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.9% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 280 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.8% during the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 3,752 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of COST opened at $916.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $406.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.82, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $989.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $945.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.