Maverick Capital Ltd. Buys 9,010 Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 374.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,415 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,010 shares during the quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $10,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. 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. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 191,985 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the first quarter valued at $3,461,159,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 3.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,357,630 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,175,579,000 after buying an additional 125,441 shares in the last quarter. 68.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on COST. 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. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. 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, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,050.00.

Insider Transactions at Costco Wholesale

In related news, Director Susan L. Decker sold 547 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $980.00, for a total transaction of $536,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,300,380. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,222.10. This represents a 20.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,147 shares of company stock valued at $10,067,740. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

NASDAQ COST opened at $943.32 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a 52-week low of $867.16 and a 52-week high of $1,078.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $966.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $980.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $418.34 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The retailer reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $62.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. 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.