357 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Purchased by Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 357 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Steph & Co. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 888.9% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $612.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. StockNews.com lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $668.50.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $662.30, for a total value of $927,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,220,540.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $731.08. 734,361 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,142,847. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $324.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.78, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $723.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $641.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 26.68%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.