Cozad Asset Management Inc. Sells 128 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,983 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.5% of Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $16,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 35 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Roth Mkm boosted 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,030.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $903.92 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $401.25 billion, a PE ratio of 53.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $989.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $944.86. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. 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.