Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by EWG Elevate Inc.

EWG Elevate Inc. lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 767 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. EWG Elevate Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,030,429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,432,900,000 after buying an additional 491,837 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,345,886 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,052,432,000 after buying an additional 1,070,128 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,045,401 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,459,600,000 after buying an additional 488,601 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,376,250 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,368,364,000 after buying an additional 64,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,160,884 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,020,793,000 after buying an additional 77,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on COST. StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th. MKM Partners dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $512.00 to $484.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $520.00 price objective (down previously from $550.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. Northcoast Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $560.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $600.00 to $575.00 in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.16.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of COST traded down $0.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $487.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,959,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,030,241. The company has a fifty day moving average of $492.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $492.19. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $406.51 and a twelve month high of $612.27. The company has a market cap of $216.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The retailer reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.66% and a net margin of 2.58%. The company had revenue of $55.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.92 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 14.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James C. Klauer sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.69, for a total value of $1,259,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,592,861.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.32, for a total transaction of $999,505.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,252,162. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.69, for a total value of $1,259,225.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,592,861.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,068 shares of company stock worth $2,992,156. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Company Profile

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Costco Wholesale Corp. engages in the operation of membership warehouses through wholly owned subsidiaries. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Canada, and Other International Operations. The company was founded by James D. Sinegal and Jeffrey H. Brotman in 1983 and is headquartered in Issaquah, WA.