Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Acquired by Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp

Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 166.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,640 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,901 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises approximately 2.5% of Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $4,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the 1st 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. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after purchasing an additional 18,045 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after purchasing an additional 191,985 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after purchasing an additional 125,441 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total transaction of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on COST. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,137.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,065.00 to $990.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,225.00 to $1,130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,067.19.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $917.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $406.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $954.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $971.03. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12-month low of $867.16 and a 12-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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

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.