Insider Selling: PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Sells 1,569 Shares of Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 1,569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.03, for a total value of $130,274.07. Following the sale, the director now owns 91,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,617,006.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

PriceSmart Price Performance

NASDAQ PSMT traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $82.02. 106,277 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 159,329. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.22. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.82 and a 1 year high of $86.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 0.92.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 2.62%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PSMT shares. StockNews.com downgraded PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 13th. TheStreet upgraded PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,177,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,489,000 after buying an additional 133,814 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al grew its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 43.4% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 63,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,749,000 after purchasing an additional 19,311 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 77.9% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 41,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,102,000 after purchasing an additional 18,249 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 114.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 492,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,692,000 after purchasing an additional 263,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter worth about $4,778,000. 80.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PriceSmart Company Profile

PriceSmart, Inc owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. The company provides basic and private label consumer products under the Member's Selection brand, including groceries, cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, meat, produce, deli, seafood, and poultry.