Proficio Capital Partners LLC Boosts Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 32.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,700 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on COST. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine research 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.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 2.0 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $898.05 on Wednesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $398.64 billion, a PE ratio of 52.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $989.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $945.12.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.