Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST Stake Reduced by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in Costco by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, now holding 199,493 shares valued at approximately $188.7 million.
• In contrast, GAMMA Investing LLC dramatically increased its investment in Costco by over 106,000%, acquiring approximately 8.16 million shares worth nearly $7.72 billion.
• Costco recently reported quarterly earnings of $4.28 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking an 8.0% revenue increase year-over-year to $63.21 billion.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,493 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 36,261 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale comprises about 1.0% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $188,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 worth $7,717,744,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 1st quarter worth about $3,461,159,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter worth about $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock worth $40,332,515,000 after purchasing an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $941.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $417.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.41, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $968.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $983.88. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.16 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.04. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%.The company had revenue of $63.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank cut Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 target price on Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,050.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total value of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,326,171.50. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick J. Callans sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,002.77, for a total value of $3,008,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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