Bill Few Associates Inc. Sells 45 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Bill Few Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 660 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COST. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,248 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $710,802,000 after acquiring an additional 620,341 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 619,578 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,266,000 after acquiring an additional 618,383 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,833,870 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,916,118,000 after acquiring an additional 473,702 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on COST. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $876.00 to $995.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,000.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $874.00 to $962.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $886.74.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,800 shares in the company, valued at $20,560,344. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $876.50, for a total value of $543,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total transaction of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,560,344. The trade was 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 sold 11,224 shares of company stock worth $9,974,973. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $894.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $886.11 and a 200 day moving average of $830.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $396.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $540.23 and a 12-month high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 earnings per share 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.