Hill Island Financial LLC Increases Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Hill Island Financial LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 253 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Hill Island Financial LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,476,000 after buying an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $979,284,000 after buying an additional 382,367 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,252,274,000 after buying an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,299,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,132,519,000 after buying an additional 231,969 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $909.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.39, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $987.55 and its 200 day moving average is $945.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. Research 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 given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.