Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Has $913,000 Stock Position in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 582.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,378 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 5,254 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 383,691 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $220,948,000 after acquiring an additional 96,566 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 1st quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 3,414 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,965,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COST opened at $731.31 on Monday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a one year low of $476.75 and a one year high of $787.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $730.68 and a 200-day moving average of $656.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $324.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total value of $5,487,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 216,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,306,297.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total transaction of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,182 shares of company stock valued at $9,809,558 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COST shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $830.00 to $820.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. 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 report on Thursday, February 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $691.28.

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.