Clarity Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Clarity Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 475 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Clarity Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 900.0% in the first quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 40 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth about $48,000. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 56 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1-year low of $867.34 and a 1-year high of $1,078.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $953.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $971.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,981 shares of company stock worth $7,588,685. 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.