Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New $20.03 Million Investment in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,175 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $20,027,000. Costco Wholesale accounts for approximately 0.6% of Quantbot Technologies LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 443,101 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $7,717,744,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152,528 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 587,303 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth $3,461,159,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Pierre Riel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,014.15, for a total transaction of $2,028,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,326,171.50. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total value of $536,060.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,547 shares of company stock valued at $9,472,510. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $995.00 to $1,042.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,035.00 price target on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Costco Wholesale from $1,075.00 to $1,060.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,050.00.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of Costco Wholesale stock opened at $972.04 on Monday. The company has a market cap 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. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52 week low of $867.16 and a 52 week high of $1,078.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $972.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $986.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 30.48% and a net margin of 2.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.