Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys Shares of 16,892 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 16,892 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $15,478,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 1,963 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 6,824 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,246,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,665 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $24,432,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 54,717 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $50,405,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Wealth Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the fourth quarter worth approximately $898,000. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on COST shares. Loop Capital cut their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $755.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $990.00 to $1,030.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,000.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,030.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 1.4 %

COST stock opened at $916.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $406.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82. Costco Wholesale Co. has a fifty-two week low of $697.27 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $989.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $945.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend 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 presently 27.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,242,687. This represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.