American Money Management LLC Has $11.06 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

American Money Management LLC lessened its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,067 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 88 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 2.2% of American Money Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. American Money Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $11,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. United Bank lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,767,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth about $328,000. Finally, Worldly Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the third quarter. Worldly Partners Management LLC now owns 90,416 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $80,156,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,915 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of COST opened at $929.66 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $412.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $988.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $946.54.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. UBS Group increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

About Costco Wholesale

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.