Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) Shares Bought by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,802 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $1,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,108,655 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,287,718,000 after acquiring an additional 333,308 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,634,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,941,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,174 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 118,320.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,396,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,376,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,390,278 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,134,947 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,901,040,000 after acquiring an additional 210,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter worth about $2,328,844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COST. UBS Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $750.00 to $785.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $710.00 to $755.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Northcoast Research downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $620.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Costco Wholesale from $640.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $668.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly 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 link. In related news, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,020,750.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel M. Hines sold 1,400 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $662.30, for a total value of $927,220.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,220,540.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,582 shares of company stock valued at $10,736,778 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $732.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,711,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,158,359. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $724.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $642.61. The stock has a market cap of $324.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.90, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52-week low of $476.75 and a 52-week high of $787.08.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.68%.

About Costco Wholesale

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.