Notis McConarty Edward Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Notis McConarty Edward cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,468 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 15 shares during the period. Notis McConarty Edward’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 2,019 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,850,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 269 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Leeward Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 217.6% in the 4th quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,951 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 3,392 shares during the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 1,338 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 31,249 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $28,633,000 after buying an additional 3,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 5.2 %

COST opened at $916.48 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $988.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $947.67. The company has a market cap of $406.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.82, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $702.00 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Raymond James increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

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.