Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) is McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

McCollum Christoferson Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,578 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up 5.8% of McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $19,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $909.26 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $987.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $945.45. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for 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, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.