Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Acquires 19,888 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 235,595 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 19,888 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.05% of Costco Wholesale worth $233,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,356,271 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $42,920,107,000 after purchasing an additional 711,560 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275,056 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,124,263,000 after buying an additional 150,844 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,332,009 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,097,127,000 after buying an additional 18,045 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Costco Wholesale by 5.2% in 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,461,159,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $1,042.00 to $1,033.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Costco Wholesale in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,115.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $1,050.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on Costco Wholesale in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,025.07.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $935.68, for a total transaction of $2,526,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,410,343.68. The trade was a 28.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,720 shares of company stock worth $9,010,257. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

Costco Wholesale stock opened at $890.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $394.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $930.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $964.43. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 1 year low of $871.71 and a 1 year high of $1,078.23.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The firm had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.