Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Gibson Capital LLC

Gibson Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 62.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,046 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 0.2% of Gibson Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Gibson Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,861 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,668,069,000 after acquiring an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $979,284,000 after purchasing an additional 382,367 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on COST shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $945.78 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $988.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $947.08. 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 stock has a market cap of $419.63 billion, a PE ratio of 55.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. The trade was a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.