Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Purchased by Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 343,614 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,407 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises 0.8% of Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of Costco Wholesale worth $314,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Petros Family Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth $1,555,000. NFP Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. NFP Retirement Inc. now owns 980 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 24,236 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $22,207,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 846 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $775,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $931.00, for a total value of $3,351,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at $38,242,687. This trade represents a 8.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,600 shares of company stock worth $5,215,915 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Barclays upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $975.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $950.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST opened at $963.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $427.45 billion, a PE ratio of 56.57, a P/E/G ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $982.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $949.47. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $702.00 and a twelve month high of $1,078.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.