Cynosure Group LLC Sells 352 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Cynosure Group LLC lessened its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 636 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 352 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of COST. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 29,895 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. NCP Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 25.8% in the third quarter. NCP Inc. now owns 3,423 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,034,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Carlson Capital Management raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 845 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,526,000. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 4,153 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on COST shares. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from an “accumulate” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $925.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Truist Financial cut Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $873.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $880.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday, November 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $908.81.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $961.55 on Thursday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $582.83 and a 12 month high of $976.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $905.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $869.42. The firm has a market cap of $426.03 billion, a PE ratio of 58.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 1,416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 27,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,514,232. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total transaction of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. This represents a 16.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.