Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 266,192 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 21,392 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 0.6% of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.06% of Costco Wholesale worth $243,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of COST. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 760 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,034,491 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,690,138,000 after purchasing an additional 78,590 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,149 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,792,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 32,858 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,114,000 after buying an additional 10,054 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on COST. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $926.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $697.27 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $987.58 and a 200 day moving average of $945.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $410.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during 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, research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

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.