Insider Selling: Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) EVP Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total value of $3,924,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST traded down $6.57 on Wednesday, reaching $972.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,361,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,020,165. The company's fifty day moving average is $971.89 and its 200 day moving average is $954.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $431.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $714.41 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 30.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,824 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,353,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 13.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 876,584 shares of the retailer's stock worth $829,057,000 after purchasing an additional 101,220 shares during the period. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 3,574.6% during the first quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 26,016 shares of the retailer's stock worth $24,605,000 after buying an additional 25,308 shares in the last quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,638 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 34,881 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $32,990,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped 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. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,024.03.

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.