Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Acquired by German American Bancorp Inc.

German American Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,834 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.3% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $12,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after acquiring an additional 252,118 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,665,921,000 after acquiring an additional 149,209 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,182,316,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,715,685 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,404,571,000 after purchasing an additional 43,266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $908.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $402.92 billion, a PE ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $987.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $948.47. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $702.00 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 27.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.