Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN Sells 153 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)

Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN cut its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 24.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 463 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 10,536 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,654,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 4,507 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,134,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the period. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth approximately $241,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,034.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gary Millerchip sold 1,100 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.01, for a total value of $1,034,011.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,495,211.65. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,647 shares of company stock valued at $10,530,961. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.3%

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $1,001.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $444.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.83, a PEG ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.00. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $793.00 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1,003.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $981.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 29.50%.

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.