Brown Financial Advisors Decreases Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Brown Financial Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,130 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 213 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after purchasing an additional 795,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $979,284,000 after buying an additional 382,367 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 75,894.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after buying an additional 324,973 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $157,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on COST. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $909.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $940.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,021.93.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $1,035.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $459.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $976.47 and its 200 day moving average is $933.62.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.25%.

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.