Wintrust Investments LLC Has $531,000 Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wintrust Investments LLC cut its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 580 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after purchasing an additional 162,191 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,013,394,000 after acquiring an additional 125,444 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,077,905 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,820,193,000 after buying an additional 43,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,075,065 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,726,107,000 after purchasing an additional 70,561 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $927.08 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $411.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.44, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $990.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $944.52. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price objective (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

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.