Crowley Wealth Management Inc. Buys New Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 429 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COST. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 443,747 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $393,391,000 after buying an additional 6,495 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,652 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $14,772,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 791 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 477 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.5 %

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $909.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $403.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $987.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $945.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced 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 company had revenue of $63.72 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COST. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,029.00.

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.