Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC Sells 85 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 282 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,668,069,000 after buying an additional 455,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,487,057 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,380,648,000 after acquiring an additional 162,191 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,077,905 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,820,193,000 after purchasing an additional 43,414 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 2.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,075,065 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,726,107,000 after purchasing an additional 70,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,899,904 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,657,095,000 after purchasing an additional 91,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $840.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $929.75 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $697.27 and a 52 week high of $1,078.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $987.96 and its 200-day moving average is $946.00. The firm has a market cap of $412.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.