William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $308.95 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

William Blair Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 337,185 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 4,680 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 0.8% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $308,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,489,574,000 after acquiring an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at about $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $984,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $903.92 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $989.80 and its 200-day moving average is $944.86. The stock has a market cap of $401.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $697.27 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last announced 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 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

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.