Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 37 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,743 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 1.6% of Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $9,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Swedbank AB increased its stake in 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 period. United Bank increased its stake in 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 period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 16.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,652 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the third quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 791 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 18.1% in the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 477 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on COST. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.5 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $909.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The company has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $987.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $945.06.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.