Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 3,458 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,351 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 3,458 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $38,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,380,648,000 after purchasing an additional 162,191 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,252,274,000 after purchasing an additional 324,973 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,013,394,000 after buying an additional 125,444 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,077,905 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,820,193,000 after buying an additional 43,414 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,075,065 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,726,107,000 after buying an additional 70,561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on COST. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,030.43.

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Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $930.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $413.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.64, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one 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 business's fifty day moving average is $990.22 and its 200-day moving average is $944.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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