Insider Selling: PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Sells $96,102.72 in Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 1,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.72, for a total value of $96,102.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,673,314. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $82.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.92. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.82 and a 12-month high of $86.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $82.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.33.

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

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in PriceSmart by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 4,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in PriceSmart by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 8,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PSMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 13th.

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.