Intrust Bank NA Boosts Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Intrust Bank NA boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,818 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Steph & Co. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock worth $2,682,948 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4 %

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $2.85 during trading on Monday, reaching $726.33. 1,466,793 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,041,413. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $476.75 and a 52-week high of $787.08. The company has a market capitalization of $322.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.22, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.77. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $730.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $667.48.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. 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. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $694.48.

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.