69 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Bought by Summit Securities Group LLC

Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 69 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 182.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 409 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at about $244,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,758 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 176.6% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 130 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total transaction of $1,034,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,915. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $929.66 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $988.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $946.86. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $412.47 billion, a PE ratio of 54.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.