Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,730 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,108,655 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,287,718,000 after buying an additional 333,308 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,328,844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $732.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $724.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $642.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $668.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was 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 owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.