Forte Capital LLC ADV Sells 280 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Forte Capital LLC ADV decreased its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,584 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 280 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 61,693.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,100,099 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth $390,630,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth $297,915,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Costco Wholesale by 18.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,088,673 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,180,016,000 after acquiring an additional 323,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,161,630 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $656,274,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on COST. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $11.46 on Friday, hitting $743.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,323,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,605,560. The company has a market capitalization of $329.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $476.75 and a 1 year high of $787.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $730.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $671.71.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,967,534.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,228,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 1,442 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $723.48, for a total value of $1,043,258.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,967,534.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale 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.