Legacy Private Trust Co. Sells 543 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Legacy Private Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,908 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Collier Financial acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares in the company, valued at $43,161,193.58. This represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,028.46.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $1,008.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $981.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $974.53. The firm has a market cap of $447.56 billion, a PE ratio of 59.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $788.20 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 30.36%.

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.