Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 300,134 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,517 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Costco Wholesale worth $275,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,489,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth approximately $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $984,000. 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $903.92 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $989.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $944.22. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $697.27 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The company has a market capitalization of $401.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on COST. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

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.