4,450 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Purchased by Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,450 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,077,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares during the period. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 2,134 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 849 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 2,024 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 7,488 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price objective (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST opened at $964.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $428.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.62, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $989.69 and a 200-day moving average of $942.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week 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 the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.