First National Bank of Hutchinson Has $938,000 Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,024 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 28 shares during the quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,489,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Nwam LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $20,056,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $8,430,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,020,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth $984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $904.05 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $401.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.09, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $988.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $944.83.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup lifted 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,030.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.