Hancock Whitney Corp Grows Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,547 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $11,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 113,947.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,370,916 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,534,464,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,453 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,650,562 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,102,941,000 after purchasing an additional 88,550 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,399,127 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,013,394,000 after purchasing an additional 125,444 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,034,491 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,690,138,000 after purchasing an additional 78,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,255 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,489,574,000 after buying an additional 32,074 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $908.81.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total transaction of $3,921,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. The trade was a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $894.68, for a total transaction of $1,266,866.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,514,232. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock worth $9,826,115 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $970.00 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $582.83 and a 1-year high of $976.30. The company has a market capitalization of $429.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.54, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $901.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $866.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

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.