Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Acquired by Randolph Co Inc

Key Points

• Randolph Co Inc increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.7%, owning 39,667 shares valued at approximately $39.3 million, making it the seventh largest holding in their portfolio.
• Several institutional investors significantly acquired shares in Costco, including GAMMA Investing LLC, which increased its stake by over 106,000% during the first quarter, owning over 8 million shares valued at $7.7 billion.
• Costco's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $5.87, exceeding estimates, with revenue hitting $86.16 billion, reflecting an 8.1% year-over-year increase.

Randolph Co Inc boosted its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,667 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale accounts for about 4.0% of Randolph Co Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Randolph Co Inc's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $39,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after buying an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,461,159,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 418,980.3% in 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 buying an additional 2,358,859 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $40,332,515,000 after buying an additional 443,101 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 370,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on COST shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,061.30.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This trade represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:COST opened at $943.31 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $956.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $970.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.16 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The company has a market cap of $418.34 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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