First Interstate Bank Sells 238 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

First Interstate Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,922 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 45 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 74 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on COST shares. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $745.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Northcoast Research downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.28.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,306,297.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,442 shares of company stock worth $9,303,768 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $2.31 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $715.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,411,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,535. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $730.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $657.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.