Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 982 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,294 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 4,059 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,679,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Acas LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Acas LLC now owns 2,819 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 7,780 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,129,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $2,017,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on COST shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $723.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,203,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,977. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $664.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $321.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

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.