TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Lowers Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lessened its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 170,786 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 8,280 shares during the period. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 1.2% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $168,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 2,359,422 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,335,686,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358,859 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,920,107,000 after acquiring an additional 711,560 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 812,188 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $768,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 15,055.5% during the second quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 320,994 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $317,722,000 after purchasing an additional 318,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Shares of COST opened at $895.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $396.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.15, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $932.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $964.95. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $871.71 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous 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 analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 is presently 28.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COST has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of 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. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 29th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,025.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, EVP William Richard Wilcox sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $930.13, for a total transaction of $2,232,312.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,860,260. This trade represents a 54.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,157,994.18. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,817,966.10. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% 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.