GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Lowers Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,710 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $234,000. First National Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 8,214 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,526,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $2,037,000. Glenview Trust co grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 9,496 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,701,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 10,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,288,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ COST opened at $903.92 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $989.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $944.86. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $401.25 billion, a PE ratio of 53.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

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 firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 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.