Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Stock Holdings Increased by Intrust Bank NA

Intrust Bank NA increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,818 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. EWA LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. EWA LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,059,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,224 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 12,122 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,184,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,727 shares of company stock worth $2,682,948. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $2.85 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $726.33. 1,466,793 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,041,413. The company has a market cap of $322.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $730.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $667.48. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $476.75 and a fifty-two week high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.35%.

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.