Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by Fiduciary Alliance LLC

Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,202 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer's stock worth $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,078 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,307,363,000 after buying an additional 338,780 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 75,894.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 338,935 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $300,473,000 after buying an additional 338,489 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,019.00 to $1,020.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,013.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,155,409.10. This represents a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST traded down $12.24 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $924.70. The stock had a trading volume of 1,690,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,924,317. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $675.96 and a 52-week high of $1,008.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $410.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $948.69 and a 200 day moving average of $899.73.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is currently 27.25%.

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.