Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells $567,445.10 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ COST traded down $3.94 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $711.25. 1,845,885 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,098,199. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $659.23. The company has a market cap of $315.44 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 26.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, Northcoast Research lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $691.28.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,360,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,640,940,000 after purchasing an additional 485,051 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after buying an additional 7,390,278 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $3,628,694,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,901,040,000 after purchasing an additional 210,586 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.