236 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Acquired by North Forty Two & Co.

North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 236 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 13,450 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 181.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,107,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 2.0 %

COST stock opened at $898.05 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $989.21 and a 200-day moving average of $945.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $398.64 billion, a PE ratio of 52.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company 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%. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. 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 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

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.