Progressive Investment Management Corp Sells 337 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Progressive Investment Management Corp reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation by 1.8%, holding 17,922 shares valued at approximately $16.95 million, making it the fund's 6th largest position.
• Recent insider trading saw EVP Pierre Riel sell 2,000 shares and EVP Yoram Rubanenko sell 4,000 shares, resulting in significant decreases of 19.59% and 40.92% in their respective positions.
• Costco's latest quarterly earnings beat expectations with EPS of $4.28 and a revenue of $63.21 billion, reflecting an 8% year-over-year increase, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30.

Progressive Investment Management Corp lessened its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,922 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 337 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 4.7% of Progressive Investment Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Progressive Investment Management Corp's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $16,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth $3,461,159,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at about $95,452,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $40,332,515,000 after purchasing an additional 443,101 shares during the period. 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $974.96, for a total value of $3,899,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,629,419.04. The trade was a 40.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were 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 owned 8,210 shares in the company, valued at $8,326,171.50. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,115.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $1.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $980.85. 1,656,053 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,205,056. The stock's 50-day moving average is $971.72 and its 200-day moving average is $986.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $434.99 billion, a PE ratio of 55.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 0.96. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a twelve month low of $867.16 and a twelve month high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

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

Costco Wholesale Company 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.