First Bank & Trust Acquires 30 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

First Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,162 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up 0.7% of First Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,534,464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,453 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $710,802,000 after purchasing an additional 620,341 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,266,000 after purchasing an additional 618,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,916,118,000 after purchasing an additional 473,702 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $850.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $894.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total transaction of $431,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total transaction of $431,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,636 shares of company stock worth $11,238,510. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $891.22 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $395.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $891.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $840.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $540.23 and a fifty-two week high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.75%.

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.