FineMark National Bank & Trust Purchases 119 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

FineMark National Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,312 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of COST. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,962 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 760 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,034,491 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,690,138,000 after buying an additional 78,590 shares during the period. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,149 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,792,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 32,858 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,114,000 after acquiring an additional 10,054 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on COST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,075.00 price target (up from $980.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,029.00.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $926.04 on Tuesday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $697.27 and a 1-year high of $1,078.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $987.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $945.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $410.87 billion, a PE ratio of 54.38, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $63.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.