Guardian Partners Inc. Takes Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,361 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $9,608,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 16.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,652 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% during the third quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 791 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.1% during the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 477 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $909.26 on Friday. 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 company 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $987.55 and a 200 day moving average of $945.06. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value 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 approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.