Saturna Capital Corp Has $4 Million Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Saturna Capital Corp cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,362 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. Summit X LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 619 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 12,223 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $11,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Bender Robert & Associates boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Bender Robert & Associates now owns 1,482 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,358,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,260 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,987,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natural Investments LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $2,818,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $930.49 on Wednesday. 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 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 $413.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.64, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $990.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $944.64.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.