Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 588,056 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 402 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 1.6% of Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.13% of Costco Wholesale worth $538,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 182.1% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. NCP Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 25.8% in the third quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 3,423 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,034,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 29,895 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $929.75 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $697.27 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. 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 stock has a market cap of $412.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.59, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $987.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $946.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price target (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

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.