Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Acquires Shares of 1,572 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,572 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,440,000. Costco Wholesale accounts for 1.2% of Chancellor Financial Group WB LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanich Group LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares in the last quarter. Brentview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,522,000. Manuka Financial LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $258,000. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,494,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:COST traded up $40.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,048.78. 5,400,884 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,061,175. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $788.20 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $983.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $975.34. The firm has a market cap of $465.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Costco Wholesale's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Mizuho initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price target for the company. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,035.32.

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.