Columbia Advisory Partners LLC Grows Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Columbia Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,573 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 1.3% of Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Columbia Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho started coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,035.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 directly owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,825,205. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $1,007.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $995.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $980.29. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $793.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $446.70 billion, a PE ratio of 59.15, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

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.