Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,988 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 2,988 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,017,000. Costco Wholesale makes up 1.9% of Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $390,630,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $297,915,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,088,673 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,180,016,000 after purchasing an additional 323,346 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 34.8% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,161,630 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $656,274,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $7.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $722.68. 1,174,884 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,079,065. The stock has a market capitalization of $320.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $664.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $476.75 and a fifty-two week high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale 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.