Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Holdings Raised by Greenwich Wealth Management LLC

Greenwich Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,197 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,721 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,412,000 after buying an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 1,132 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 9,022 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $903.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $989.80 and a 200-day moving average of $944.47. The company has a market capitalization of $401.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

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.