Simmons Bank Buys 721 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Simmons Bank grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,343 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 721 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,840 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,657,994 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,754,489,000 after purchasing an additional 77,345 shares during the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,604 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 171,314 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $113,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $7.57 on Wednesday, hitting $763.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,030,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,024,366. The stock has a market capitalization of $338.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.77. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $476.75 and a 1 year high of $787.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $731.22 and a 200-day moving average of $675.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.