Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Sold by Lincoln Capital Corp

Lincoln Capital Corp cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 461 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richelieu Gestion SA acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Steph & Co. raised its position in Costco Wholesale by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 888.9% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $612.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. StockNews.com cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $668.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $732.08. 1,245,685 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,165,796. The stock has a market cap of $324.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.78, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $476.75 and a fifty-two week high of $787.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $723.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $641.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.68%.

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.