Bill Few Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Bill Few Associates Inc. decreased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 660 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 99,208.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,474,733 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,253,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,248 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth approximately $510,353,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 287.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 836,247 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $710,802,000 after acquiring an additional 620,341 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 51,747.5% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the first 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 last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $800.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $870.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Costco Wholesale from $925.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $886.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $896.71, for a total value of $1,793,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,155,409.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was 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 owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold 11,224 shares of company stock valued at $9,974,973 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $894.61 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $886.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $830.26. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12 month low of $540.23 and a 12 month high of $923.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $396.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.43, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by $0.10. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The business had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal 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.