Stokes Family Office LLC Sells 15 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Stokes Family Office LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,201 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 15 shares during the period. Stokes Family Office LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $979,284,000 after acquiring an additional 382,367 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,299,535 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,132,519,000 after purchasing an additional 231,969 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on COST. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Nine research 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $898.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $398.64 billion, a PE ratio of 52.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $989.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $945.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly 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 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 expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.