Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,317 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,583 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 0.8% of Xponance Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $67,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of COST. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,901,040,000 after acquiring an additional 210,586 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,328,844,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,049,630,000 after buying an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $691.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total transaction of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,942 shares of company stock worth $7,602,943 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST traded down $3.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $711.25. 1,582,139 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,090,214. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.44 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $730.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $659.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $476.75 and a 1-year high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 26.68%.

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.