AXQ Capital LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

AXQ Capital LP lessened its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 74.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 829 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,425 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Umpqua Bank boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,134,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 933 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,912,000. Plancorp LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,753,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $618,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lifted 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. 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, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price objective (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of COST opened at $909.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $987.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $944.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a PE ratio of 53.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. 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.