Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Has $1.93 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO cut its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 27.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,633 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,008 shares during the quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after acquiring an additional 485,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,628,694,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,539,245 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,336,198,000 after buying an additional 132,292 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,794,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,581,000 after buying an additional 85,398 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COST shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $860.00 to $890.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $700.00 to $765.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $875.00 target price (up previously from $800.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $756.85.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $0.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $849.99. 2,131,691 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,321. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $801.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $739.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $524.63 and a twelve month high of $873.96.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The retailer reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.08. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.02% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $58.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.43 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.75%.

Costco Wholesale Profile

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.