Notis McConarty Edward Lowers Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Notis McConarty Edward lessened its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,468 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 15 shares during the quarter. Notis McConarty Edward’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 3,081 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 525 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 55 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $916.48 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $702.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $988.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $947.67. The firm has a market cap of $406.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.82, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.