Dempze Nancy E Cuts Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Dempze Nancy E lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 653 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 58 shares during the quarter. Dempze Nancy E’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $7,203,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 11,755 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,421,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 45,288 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth $5,053,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price target (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $916.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $406.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $988.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $947.67. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $702.00 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company 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.