AIA Group Ltd Decreases Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

AIA Group Ltd cut its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,281 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 939 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $6,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,121 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,720,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Peterson Wealth Services purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,010,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 612.4% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,025 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 3,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 70,625 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $46,618,000 after purchasing an additional 4,197 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,942 shares of company stock worth $7,602,943. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST traded down $2.95 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $712.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,147,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,088,582. The firm has a market cap of $315.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.85, a PEG ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $476.75 and a 12 month high of $787.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $730.83 and a 200 day moving average of $659.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on COST shares. Northcoast Research cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.28.

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.