Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Shares Sold by Lincoln Capital LLC

Key Points

• Lincoln Capital LLC reduced its stake in Costco by 1.7%, now holding 35,604 shares worth approximately $34.86 million, making it their second-largest position.
• GAMMA Investing LLC significantly increased its position by 106,402.1%, acquiring over 8 million shares, bringing its total to approximately $7.72 billion.
• Costco announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, reflecting a 0.5% yield and a payout ratio of 29.50%.

Lincoln Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,604 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up approximately 7.2% of Lincoln Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Lincoln Capital LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $34,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% during the first 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter worth $3,461,159,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale in the fourth quarter worth $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after buying an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the first 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. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director owned 11,531 shares in the company, valued at $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $972.04 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $431.08 billion, a PE ratio of 55.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company's fifty day moving average price is $972.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $986.13. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,050.00.

About Costco Wholesale

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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