HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Cuts Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,968 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after acquiring an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 3,762 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,341,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 7,467 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,623,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 168,641 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $149,504,000 after buying an additional 1,745 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $927.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $411.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $990.44 and a 200 day moving average of $944.52.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.