Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Gary Millerchip Sells 1,100 Shares

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.0 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $938.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $988.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $945.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market cap of $416.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.12, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Institutional Trading of Costco Wholesale

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at $1,085,000. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,223,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Nestegg Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $936,000. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $481,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COST. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.