Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 231 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,910 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,665,921,000 after purchasing an additional 149,209 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,482 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,107,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Alcosta Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $4,896,000. Finally, Titleist Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on COST. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This trade represents a 8.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of COST opened at $916.48 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $988.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $948.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $406.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $702.00 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

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.