Dillon & Associates Inc. Acquires 647 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,114 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 1.0% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after acquiring an additional 6,495 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,652 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,772,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1,760.3% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 7,460 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,613,000 after acquiring an additional 7,059 shares during the period. Finally, Truepoint Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $465,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $909.26 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $987.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $945.45. The stock has a market cap of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 27.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price target (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

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 dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.