J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Grows Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,184 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $40,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 43 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,045.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $994.50 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $706.17 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $441.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.40, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $975.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $953.37.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its 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 the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.