Ledyard National Bank Acquires 227 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Ledyard National Bank boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,158 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 227 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,901,040,000 after acquiring an additional 210,586 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,689,514 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,519,468,000 after acquiring an additional 24,274 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,580,649 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,457,964,000 after acquiring an additional 28,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,088,673 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,180,016,000 after acquiring an additional 323,346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Gordon Haskett lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $5.83 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $720.50. The stock had a trading volume of 351,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,028,444. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $730.46 and its 200 day moving average is $668.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $319.54 billion, a PE ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

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.