Barings LLC Acquires 61 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Barings LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 379 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on COST. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $964.31 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $989.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $943.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $428.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. 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.