Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 388,537 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 55.1%, selling 388,537 shares and leaving it with approximately 0.07% of the company worth $299.6 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Costco, with Vanguard Group acquiring an additional 443,101 shares, while GAMMA Investing significantly boosted its holdings by over 106,400%.
• Costco recently reported earnings of $4.28 EPS, surpassing consensus estimates, with a revenue increase of 8.0% year-over-year, leading analysts to forecast an 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board decreased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 55.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 316,789 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 388,537 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.07% of Costco Wholesale worth $299,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer's stock worth $18,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 117,254 shares of the retailer's stock worth $107,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,384 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 4,813 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,410,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 34.8% in the 4th quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 732 shares of the retailer's stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

COST traded down $1.64 during trading on Monday, hitting $943.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,606,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,241,319. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $966.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $980.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $867.16 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $418.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total transaction of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,705,164.11. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following 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. Insiders sold 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on COST. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,050.00.

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.