Insider Selling: PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO Sells 580 Shares of Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.40, for a total transaction of $53,592.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,279.20. This trade represents a 40.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

PriceSmart Price Performance

PSMT stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $91.93. 273,121 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,112. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $74.74 and a 52-week high of $99.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $91.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.59.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.22). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 227.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,287,000 after buying an additional 32,438 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in PriceSmart by 18.4% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,627,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 18,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new position in shares of PriceSmart during the 4th quarter worth $5,030,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,873,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About PriceSmart

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.