Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Has $12.90 Million Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,082 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $12,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,021.93.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 2.0 %

COST opened at $1,026.62 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $989.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $942.33. 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 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. 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 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). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.25%.

Costco Wholesale 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.