Prudent Man Advisors LLC Has $1.22 Million Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lowered its position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,372 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 103 shares during the quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 22.3% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,719 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,655,000 after buying an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Costco Wholesale by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,298 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,347,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 120.4% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 7,515 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,106 shares during the period. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 500.0% in the 1st quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 60,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $43,958,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on COST shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $955.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,016.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Costco Wholesale from $855.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $905.30.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of COST stock opened at $907.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $401.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.74, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.80. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $572.24 and a 52-week high of $962.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $897.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $859.62.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released 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. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 2.90%. The company had revenue of $79.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.86 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 17.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,671,983.70. This represents a 27.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 4,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.15, for a total value of $3,921,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,091,512.30. This represents a 30.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,016 shares of company stock valued at $9,826,115. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Costco Wholesale

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.