Axa S.A. Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

AXA S.A. decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 394,148 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 33,231 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.1% of AXA S.A.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. AXA S.A. owned 0.09% of Costco Wholesale worth $361,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $5,182,316,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 74,796.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,521,893 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,394,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,861 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 100,422.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 796,137 shares of the retailer's stock worth $729,476,000 after acquiring an additional 795,345 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,201,610 shares of the retailer's stock worth $38,668,069,000 after acquiring an additional 455,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 41,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated 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 $6,445,926.72. This trade represents a 11.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $940.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,035.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $6.59 during trading on Monday, reaching $1,014.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,950,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,033,033. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm's 50-day moving average is $961.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $959.95. The company has a market cap of $450.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.59, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.95. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $746.48 and a 52-week high of $1,078.24.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.09 by ($0.07). The business 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is 30.36%.

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.