Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Buys 921 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 61.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,412 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 419.2% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,504,000 after buying an additional 38,335 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 14,302 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,104,000 after acquiring an additional 5,814 shares in the last quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 2,005 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 76,996 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $70,549,000 after purchasing an additional 4,782 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $945.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $419.63 billion, a PE ratio of 55.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $988.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $947.08. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $697.27 and a 1 year high of $1,078.24. 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 (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.02 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

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.