397 Shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Bought by CenterBook Partners LP

Key Points

• CenterBook Partners LP acquired 397 shares of Costco Wholesale, valued at approximately $375,000, indicating continued interest from institutional investors.
• Insider transactions revealed that Director Susan L. Decker and EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold shares recently, with Decker decreasing their stake by 4.53% and Rubanenko by 40.92%.
• Costco reported quarterly earnings of $4.28 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 to be paid on August 15th.

CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 397 shares of the retailer's stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after purchasing an additional 587,303 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,990,957 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,656,828,000 after buying an additional 18,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after buying an additional 125,441 shares during the period. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was 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 represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price objective on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,040.81.

Costco Wholesale Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:COST traded up $3.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $980.98. 2,188,224 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,172,175. The stock has a market capitalization of $435.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.64, a PEG ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $977.93 and a 200 day moving average of $984.85. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 12 month low of $837.63 and a 12 month high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.93 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The company'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 earned $3.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.50%.

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.