Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Surges On Bullish Piper Jaffray Stand: What Do Hedge Funds Think?

How are hedge funds trading Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)?

At the end of the first quarter of 2015, a total of 41 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long in this stock, a 7% decrease from the end of 2014.

According to hedge fund experts at Insider Monkey, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the largest position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST). Berkshire Hathaway has a $656.5 million position in the stock, owning 4.33 million shares, with the position comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second-largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, owning about 1.2 million shares valued at $181 million; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish encompass Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management.

Seeing as Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers that elected to cut their positions entirely during the first quarter. Interestingly, Israel Englander‘s Millennium Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, 701,798 shares total, valued at about $99.5 million. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also said goodbye to its holding, worth about $40.5 million and comprised of 285,438 shares.

Even though Piper Jaffray is confident in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), the opposing sentiment of the world’s foremost money managers, and the relatively limited upside proposed by even its bullish proponents, leads us to conclude that the stock may not be a good buy at the moment.

Disclosure: None