No material news briefings were available for Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) in the 30 days preceding this report's generation date of 2026-09-19. The principal driver of this report is a set of material institutional position changes identified in recent 13F filings, as detailed in the holdings section below [Brief - 2026-09-11].
Costco's trailing twelve-month revenue stood at $293.6 billion, reflecting year-over-year growth of 11.6%, while net income reached $8.8 billion over the same period [SEC 10-Q - COST - 2026-05-10]. Gross margin was recorded at 5.61% and operating margin at 3.82%, consistent with the company's warehouse membership model. Net margin stood at 3.01%. The company reported cash holdings of $18.9 billion against total debt of $5.7 billion, yielding a net cash position. EPS grew 15.2% year-over-year. The price-to-earnings ratio was 45.04 against a market capitalisation of approximately $397.1 billion [SEC 10-Q - COST - 2026-05-10].
Insider activity in September 2026 comprised 14 transactions with a mixed net direction and a net value of zero, indicating no pronounced directional bias among insiders during the period [SEC Form 4 - COST - 2026-09]. On the institutional side, three significant position changes were recorded in recent filings: Citadel added approximately 23% to its COST position, AQR Capital added approximately 22%, and Millennium Management added approximately 43% to its position [SEC 13F - Citadel - Q3 2026; SEC 13F - AQR Capital - Q3 2026; SEC 13F - Millennium - Q3 2026]. These additions represent the material institutional changes that triggered this report.
The prevailing macroeconomic rate environment shows the 10-year US Treasury yield at 4.94% and the 2-year yield at 4.67%, producing a normal yield curve with a spread of approximately 27 basis points [FRED DGS10; FRED DGS2]. This rate configuration forms part of the broader financial context in which COST's valuation metrics and institutional activity are observed.