Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,840 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,586 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 0.7% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $49,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Davis R M Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 107,361 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $106,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the second quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 2,141 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 1.4% during the second quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,053 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,800,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Shared Vision Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Shared Vision Wealth Group LLC now owns 936 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 681,281 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $674,427,000 after acquiring an additional 34,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $934.62, for a total transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,155 shares in the company, valued at $4,817,966.10. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,920 shares of company stock valued at $7,373,175. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock opened at $922.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $408.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.67, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $938.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $968.65. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $871.71 and a fifty-two week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. Analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Roth Capital set a $907.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,063.88.

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.