Arlington Capital Management Inc. Purchases 75 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Arlington Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,401 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up about 0.9% of Arlington Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Arlington Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. SRN Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 3,081 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,823,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Miramar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 525 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on COST. UBS Group upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price objective (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $930.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $987.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $946.11. The firm has a market cap of $412.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-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.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.