Eastover Investment Advisors LLC Raises Position in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Eastover Investment Advisors LLC significantly increased its stake in Costco by 188% in Q2, holding 7,373 shares valued at $7.3 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Vanguard Group and GAMMA Investing, have also raised their positions in Costco, indicating strong institutional interest in the company's stock.
• Costco recently reported an EPS of $5.87, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share with a yield of 0.6%.

Eastover Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 188.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,373 shares of the retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 4,813 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up 3.3% of Eastover Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Eastover Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $7,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 106,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,160,190 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.4% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after acquiring an additional 18,045 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,461,159,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total transaction of $595,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $1,130.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,069.58.

Costco Wholesale Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ COST opened at $915.95 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $955.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $970.76. The company has a market cap of $406.20 billion, a PE ratio of 50.30, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.97. 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 earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 31.10%. The business's revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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 was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.56%.

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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