Strategic Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Strategic Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,394 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $3,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of COST. Modus Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,951 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 86.1% during the third quarter. Financial Advisory Partners LLC now owns 670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the third quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 1,480 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.4% in the third quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,820 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,387,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Gordon Haskett raised Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $980.00 price objective (up previously from $950.00) on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $860.00 to $890.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $886.74.

Insider Activity

In other Costco Wholesale news, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total value of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,545,746.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total transaction of $543,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,787.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $844.20, for a total transaction of $1,266,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,545,746.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,174 shares of company stock worth $7,097,624. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.6 %

COST traded down $14.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $894.26. 841,593 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,953,956. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1 year low of $540.23 and a 1 year high of $923.83. The firm has a market cap of $396.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $879.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $825.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.90% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current year.

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.