ERn Financial LLC Decreases Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

ERn Financial LLC reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,000 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,108,655 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,287,718,000 after buying an additional 333,308 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,941,708,000 after buying an additional 1,315,174 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,376,513,000 after buying an additional 7,390,278 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,901,040,000 after buying an additional 210,586 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,328,844,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $585.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $580.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $668.50.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $662.30, for a total value of $927,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,220,540.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $662.30, for a total transaction of $927,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,220,540.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock worth $10,736,778. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST traded up $0.55 on Friday, hitting $732.63. 1,713,268 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,605,208. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $725.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $643.24. The firm has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.82 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

Costco Wholesale 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.