Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd decreased its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 50,786 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,484 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $46,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 4,786 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,386,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 96,068 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $88,024,000 after purchasing an additional 5,756 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,593 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 2,491 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $1,008.70 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $958.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $963.56. 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 $447.54 billion, a PE ratio of 59.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $771.43 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). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.36%.

Costco Wholesale 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.