Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells $830,304.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $929.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $412.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $987.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $946.00. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 27.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,452,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $729,476,000 after purchasing an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,075.00 price target (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

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.