Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) over four decades has grown into a major warehouse retailer in the U.S. and abroad by offering low prices on large packages of name-brand products. It sells groceries, appliances, electronics, apparel and other items. The company opened its first Costco warehouse under co-founders Jim Sinegal and Jeff Brotman in 1983 in Seattle, eventually merging with Price Club 10 years later. After a short period operating as PriceCostco, the company returned to the name Costco in 1997. It has expanded dramatically since then. Costco has nearly 106 million members who purchase long-term memberships to gain access to roughly 800 Costco warehouse stores in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and to make online purchases.
In the trailing 12-month period to Oct. 4, 2021, Costco generated net income of $5.0 billion on revenue of $195.9 billion. The company has a market capitalization of $194.5 billion as of Oct. 4, 2021.
The top individual insider shareholders of Costco are Craig Jelinek, Charles Munger, and Patrick Callans, and the top institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., and State Street Corp.
"Insider" refers to people in senior management positions and members of the board of directors, as well as people or entities that own more than 10% of the company's stock. In this context, it has nothing to do with insider trading.
Top 3 Individual Insider Shareholders
The shares owned by individual insider shareholders are those that are held through direct ownership. Shares mentioned in this section do not include shares held indirectly nor shares accessible through stock options. Company insiders must file anSEC Form 4every time they buy or sell an amount of the company's stock that is deemed to be material.
Craig Jelinek
Craig Jelinek owns 333,075 shares of Costco, or about 0.08% of all outstanding shares. Jelinek has been a director and president of Costco since 2010, and CEO since 2012. During Jelinek's nine years at the helm, Costco has achieved steady growth, including expanding its operations into China. Costco opened its first store in China in 2019 in Shanghai. Jelinek previously held executive positions at Costco in operations and merchandising starting 2004. Jelinek's early career was in warehouse operations after joining Costco in 1984.
Charles Munger
Charles Munger owns 166,489 shares of Costco, or about 0.04% of all outstanding shares. Munger has been an independent director of the company since 1997. He is also vice chairman of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), and chairman of the board of directors of Daily Journal Corporation.
Patrick Callans
Patrick Callans owns 65,361 shares of Costco, or roughly 0.01% of all outstanding shares. Callans is executive vice president of Administration for Costco, a position he has held since January 2019. Prior to that appointment, Callans was senior vice president of Human Resources and Risk Management. He first joined Costco as corporate counsel in 1994.
Top 3 Institutional Shareholders
According to Whale Wisdom, nearly 2,300 13F filers held Costco stock as of the end of Q2 2021. About 99 of them included Costco in their top 10 holdings. Institutional shareholders own about 67.0% of outstanding Costco shares.
Vanguard Group Inc.
Vanguard Group owns 37.0 million shares of Costco, representing 8.4% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending June 30, 2021. The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with about $7.2 trillion in global assets under management (AUM). The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is one of the company's largest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with about $250 billion in AUM. Costco comprises 0.5% of VOO's holdings.
BlackRock Inc.
BlackRock owns 30.0 million shares of Costco, representing 6.8% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending June 30, 2021. The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with approximately $8.7 trillion in AUM. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) is one of BlackRock's largest ETFs with approximately $290 billion in AUM. Costco comprises 0.5% of IVV's holdings.
State Street Corp.
State Street owns 16.8 million shares of Costco, representing 3.8% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending June 30, 2021. The company is primarily a manager of mutual funds, ETFs and other assets with approximately $3.9 trillion in AUM. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is one of State Street's largest ETFs with approximately $385 billion in AUM. Costco comprises 0.5% of SPY's holdings.
