Versor Investments LP Reduces Holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale by 34.4% in Q1, selling 428 shares to hold 817 shares valued at $773,000.
• Despite Versor's decrease, other institutional investors have been active, with firms like Aspect Partners LLC increasing their stake by 24.4% in the same period.
• Costco reported earnings per share of $4.28 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations by $0.04 and revealing an 8% year-over-year revenue growth.

Versor Investments LP reduced its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST - Free Report) by 34.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 817 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 428 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP's holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,644,711 shares of the retailer's stock worth $40,332,515,000 after acquiring an additional 443,101 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,257,809 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,817,573,000 after acquiring an additional 587,303 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,907,670 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,695,796,000 after acquiring an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Costco Wholesale during the first quarter worth $3,461,159,000. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Yoram Rubanenko sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,774 shares in the company, valued at $5,629,419.04. This represents a 40.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,547 shares of company stock worth $9,472,510. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST traded up $13.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $994.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,227,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,181. The company has a market cap of $441.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.41, a PEG ratio of 6.09 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $971.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $986.09. 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 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. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 30.48%. The business 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 business posted $3.78 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect 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 dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale's payout ratio is 29.50%.

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.