Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Position Trimmed by OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,370 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 972 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,394,465,000 after buying an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer's stock worth $729,476,000 after buying an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer's stock worth $979,284,000 after acquiring an additional 382,367 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of COST traded down $3.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $975.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,106,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,026,353. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $971.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $954.07. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $714.41 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a market cap of $432.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.