National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 35.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 483,456 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 126,402 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $428,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldstream Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter worth $707,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 139,423 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $123,601,000 after purchasing an additional 9,752 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 124.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 21,690 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $19,229,000 after purchasing an additional 12,044 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 149,709 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $132,720,000 after buying an additional 56,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,053,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $928.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This trade represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $992.61 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $913.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $876.82. The company has a market cap of $439.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.90, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $606.35 and a 12-month high of $997.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.00%.

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.