Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,387 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 3,564 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,265,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. SwitchPoint Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $250,000. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth about $744,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at about $526,000. Finally, Momentous Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $642,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $930.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. The company has a market capitalization of $412.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $987.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $946.11.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

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.