Citizens & Northern Corp Has $3.82 Million Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Citizens & Northern Corp lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,780 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 1.4% of Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 892 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 870 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. First National Corp MA ADV lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 3,098 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 1,564 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insight Advisors LLC PA grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 2,736 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total transaction of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on COST. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $805.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $810.00 to $820.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.88.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST traded down $3.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $798.55. The stock had a trading volume of 981,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,365. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $739.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $693.12. The firm has a market cap of $354.16 billion, a PE ratio of 52.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $808.05.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This is an increase from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 25th. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 30.35%.

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.