Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Trims Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH cut its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 66.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,674 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 11,358 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $5,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in COST. Stanich Group LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,175 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the last quarter. Brentview Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $4,522,000. Manuka Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $258,000. Finally, Flavin Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter valued at $1,494,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James C. Klauer sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $981.07, for a total transaction of $3,924,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,994 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,161,193.58. This trade represents a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock worth $9,140,195 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on COST shares. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.5%

Costco Wholesale stock traded down $4.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,013.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,666,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,750. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $788.20 and a 1-year 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. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $977.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $973.74. The stock has a market cap of $449.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The retailer reported $4.02 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale's 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.