Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) CEO Sells $3,351,600.00 in Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 3.9 %

COST stock traded down $36.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $890.62. 3,438,222 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,816,066. The stock has a market cap of $395.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $990.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $944.52.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Costco Wholesale

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,665,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,770,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,052,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $453,000. Finally, Anchor Pointe Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. UBS Group increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

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.