Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Holdings Decreased by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 34.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 290 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Northwest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 482 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Renasant Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 1,047 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 12,730 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,664,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 13,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $12,142,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter valued at $1,082,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $935.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on 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. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,030.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total transaction of $3,351,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:COST opened at $903.92 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $989.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $944.47. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $697.27 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24. 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 company has a market cap of $401.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.81.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. On average, analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.09%.

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.