New Century Financial Group LLC Buys 94 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 680 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 94 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings 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 period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position 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 worth $300,473,000 after acquiring an additional 338,489 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after purchasing an additional 162,191 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of COST opened at $939.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $417.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.18, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $950.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $903.31. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $675.96 and a 52-week high of $1,008.25.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 27.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,005.00 to $1,095.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,065.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,013.59.

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.