Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 455,043 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 0.7% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.51% of Costco Wholesale worth $38,668,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $909.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a P/E/G 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $987.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $945.06. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.