Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank boosted its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,472 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 0.8% of Sandy Spring Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $19,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 214,674 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $196,699,000 after buying an additional 4,502 shares in the last quarter. Next Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Next Capital Management LLC now owns 324 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,679 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 40,687 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,168,000 after buying an additional 7,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,280 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on COST. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $904.05 on Thursday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $988.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $944.83. The company has a market cap of $401.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 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 return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. Sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. 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 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 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.