Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases 305 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,460 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 305 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.1% of Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Portfolio Design Labs LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 95.0% in the third quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 468 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 29,200 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $25,886,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on COST. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.0 %

COST opened at $895.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $397.47 billion, a PE ratio of 52.58, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $988.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $944.49.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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 firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during 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, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid 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 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

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.