Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) CEO Sells $3,351,600.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $903.92 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $697.27 and a 12-month high of $1,078.24. The stock has a market cap of $401.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $989.80 and its 200-day moving average is $944.47.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $117,792,000. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $3,665,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $1,770,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,514 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,052,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $453,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

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.