414 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Acquired by Latitude Advisors LLC

Latitude Advisors LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 414 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after buying an additional 7,390,278 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,328,844,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 172.6% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,357,548 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $730,877,000 after buying an additional 859,599 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,442 shares of company stock worth $9,303,768. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Northcoast Research cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.1 %

Costco Wholesale stock traded up $1.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $717.04. The stock had a trading volume of 178,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,806. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $730.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $658.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.01 billion, a PE ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

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.