Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Invst LLC

Invst LLC reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,526 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Invst LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after acquiring an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,665,921,000 after acquiring an additional 149,209 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $1,008.50 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $973.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $972.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $447.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.22, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $788.20 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.