Leelyn Smith LLC Reduces Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Leelyn Smith LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,359 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 1.0% of Leelyn Smith LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in COST. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 55,041 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $48,795,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.9% during the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 280 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.8% in the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 3,752 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COST. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $916.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $989.68 and a 200-day moving average of $945.08. The company has a market capitalization of $406.88 billion, a PE ratio of 53.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.