Van Strum & Towne Inc. Sells 50 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 727 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 47.9% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,721 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,412,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.6% in the third quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 4,621 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 185,056 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $163,968,000 after purchasing an additional 6,963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $903.92 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $989.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $944.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $401.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is 27.09%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

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.