Associated Banc Corp Purchases 145 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Associated Banc Corp lifted its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,771 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter worth $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 target price (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST stock opened at $903.92 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $697.27 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The company has a market cap of $401.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $989.80 and a 200 day moving average of $944.47. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 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.