Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by First National Trust Co

First National Trust Co boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,846 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 702 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $18,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Bell Bank boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the third quarter. Bell Bank now owns 2,332 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,067,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15.3% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,369 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3.1% during the third quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,265,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Barclays raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,030.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $890.62 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $395.35 billion, a PE ratio of 52.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $697.27 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $990.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $944.14.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

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.