Ruggaard & Associates LLC Has $765,000 Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Ruggaard & Associates LLC decreased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 835 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 25 shares during the quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,053,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 124.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 21,690 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $19,229,000 after purchasing an additional 12,044 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 139,423 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $123,601,000 after purchasing an additional 9,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldstream Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $707,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST opened at $916.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $406.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.82, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $988.70 and a 200 day moving average of $948.02. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $702.00 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its 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 analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. On average, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

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.