101,755 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Bought by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 101,755 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $90,440,000. Costco Wholesale comprises about 1.1% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 557.1% in the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth $48,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 73.5% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $860.00 to $890.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $980.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $908.81.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.1 %

COST opened at $971.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $430.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.65, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $582.83 and a 12 month high of $976.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $907.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $872.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.00%.

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.