HTLF Bank Purchases New Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

HTLF Bank bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 6,354 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,194,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. United Bank increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after purchasing an additional 96,566 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the first quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.28.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of COST stock traded down $7.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $704.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 647,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,078,687. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $730.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $659.59. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $312.31 billion, a PE ratio of 46.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company 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 $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

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 stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,727 shares of company stock valued at $8,170,388 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.