Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,768 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 113 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 3,787 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Heritage Wealth Partners LLC now owns 436 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,307 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,778,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COST. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $723.89 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $730.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $664.46. The firm has a market cap of $321.05 billion, a PE ratio of 47.34, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.77.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 26.68%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock worth $2,682,948. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.