Banco de Sabadell S.A Grows Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Banco de Sabadell S.A grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,575 shares of the retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 3.3% of Banco de Sabadell S.A's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Banco de Sabadell S.A's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,394,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer's stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,068,772 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $979,284,000 after purchasing an additional 382,367 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,308,615 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,252,274,000 after buying an additional 324,973 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,299,535 shares of the retailer's stock worth $2,132,519,000 after purchasing an additional 231,969 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total value of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $1,075.00 target price (up previously from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded down $0.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $929.75. 1,644,284 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,823,661. The stock has a market cap of $412.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's fifty day moving average is $987.84 and its 200 day moving average is $946.11. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $697.27 and a 12 month high of $1,078.24. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its 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). Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.09%.

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.