121 Shares in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Acquired by Altshuler Shaham Ltd

Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 121 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 10,080 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,807 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,763 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,144,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 675,450 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $445,851,000 after acquiring an additional 13,326 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the 4th quarter valued at $846,000. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In related news, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total value of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $722.86, for a total value of $567,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,228,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Claudine Adamo sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $714.83, for a total transaction of $1,072,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,785,786.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,727 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,948 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of COST stock traded up $15.63 on Thursday, reaching $779.04. 1,715,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,026,843. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $731.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $676.58. The company has a market capitalization of $345.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.95, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $476.75 and a twelve month high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 28.80%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is 30.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COST has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of Costco Wholesale in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $665.00 to $749.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Costco Wholesale has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $694.48.

Costco Wholesale 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.