Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 26 Shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 479 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 26 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in COST. United Bank grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after buying an additional 96,566 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $615.00 to $630.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $630.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $620.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $586.43.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock traded up $2.76 during trading on Monday, reaching $579.91. 531,882 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,801,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 1-year low of $447.90 and a 1-year high of $599.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $564.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $543.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $256.75 billion, a PE ratio of 40.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.78.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 26th. The retailer reported $4.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.79 by $0.07. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 28.10%. The company had revenue of $78.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.20 EPS. Costco Wholesale’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 2nd. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total transaction of $1,384,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at $37,619,131.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Patrick J. Callans sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.76, for a total value of $1,384,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 67,934 shares in the company, valued at $37,619,131.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard A. Galanti sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.57, for a total transaction of $1,131,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,914,008.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,265 shares of company stock worth $10,797,118. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Company 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.