City State Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

City State Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,253 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,582 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,863,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 8,202 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,515,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,128 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 813 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 2,491 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $880.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,013.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,155,409.10. The trade was a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total value of $1,266,866.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST traded down $9.59 on Monday, hitting $927.35. 454,957 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,736,214. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $675.96 and a fifty-two week high of $1,008.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $947.92 and its 200 day moving average is $899.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.25%.

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.