Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Acquired by Olympiad Research LP

Olympiad Research LP lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 78.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 403 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 0.7% of Olympiad Research LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Olympiad Research LP’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,124,263,000 after acquiring an additional 150,844 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,097,127,000 after acquiring an additional 18,045 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other news, insider Tiffany Marie Barbre sold 1,239 shares of the business’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 value of $1,157,994.18. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total value of $2,232,312.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,260. The trade was a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 10,320 shares of company stock valued at $9,605,487 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COST. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,140.00 to $1,134.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $975.00 to $950.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,130.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,063.88.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

COST opened at $925.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $409.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.80, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $935.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $967.11. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $871.71 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23.

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

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.