Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Has $48.72 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lowered its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,171 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 2,696 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $48,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 455,043 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $8,901,249,000 after purchasing an additional 252,118 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,457,824 shares of the retailer's stock worth $8,665,921,000 after purchasing an additional 149,209 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $5,182,316,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on COST shares. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, April 11th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Cfra Research upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,024.03.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.56, for a total transaction of $830,304.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,445,926.72. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roland Michael Vachris sold 3,600 shares of the 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 owns 41,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,242,687. The trade was a 8.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,600 shares of company stock valued at $9,140,195 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST traded down $7.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $1,018.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,658,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,047,377. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $788.20 and a one year high of $1,078.24. The company has a market cap of $451.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $968.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $970.34. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 2.93%. The business had revenue of $63.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.02 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 30.36%.

Costco Wholesale 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.