Sapient Capital LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 106,135 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 6,981 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 1.9% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $94,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the third quarter worth approximately $156,000. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 3rd quarter worth $619,000. VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.7% during the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 816 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on COST. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $1,005.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $886.74.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $892.78 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $882.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $828.01. The stock has a market cap of $395.80 billion, a PE ratio of 55.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 12-month low of $540.23 and a 12-month high of $923.83.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The retailer reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.91 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total transaction of $2,844,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. The trade was 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. In other news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $888.99, for a total value of $2,844,768.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at $7,671,983.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard A. Galanti sold 500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $863.88, for a total value of $431,940.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,560,344. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,824 shares of company stock worth $4,260,493 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.