Enhancing Capital LLC Invests $3.25 Million in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 3,541 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,245,000. Costco Wholesale comprises about 2.6% of Enhancing Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after buying an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after buying an additional 795,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $979,284,000 after buying an additional 382,367 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,252,274,000 after purchasing an additional 324,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,299,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,132,519,000 after purchasing an additional 231,969 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $916.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $989.68 and a 200-day moving average of $945.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $406.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.82, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on COST. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price objective (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.