Resonant Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,359 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 645 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,901,040,000 after acquiring an additional 210,586 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth $2,328,844,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,105,124 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,049,630,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded down $3.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $708.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,400,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,088,454. The business’s 50-day moving average is $730.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $659.59. The company has a market capitalization of $314.05 billion, a PE ratio of 46.30, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $476.75 and a 52-week high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during 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%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $691.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,727 shares of company stock worth $8,170,388. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.