Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,717 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $50,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after acquiring an additional 162,191 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,252,274,000 after acquiring an additional 324,973 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,013,394,000 after acquiring an additional 125,444 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,077,905 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,820,193,000 after acquiring an additional 43,414 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,075,065 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,726,107,000 after acquiring an additional 70,561 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $904.05 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $988.75 and its 200 day moving average is $944.83. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $697.27 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $401.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

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.