Royce & Associates LP Boosts Stock Holdings in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,094 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $2,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PSMT. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the first quarter worth about $117,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 21,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,831,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 8.5% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PriceSmart by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,424,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,671,000 after purchasing an additional 105,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $87.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.31. PriceSmart, Inc. has a one year low of $66.79 and a one year high of $94.82.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.07). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 2.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In other news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.05, for a total transaction of $59,663.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,803.50. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.62, for a total value of $358,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,569,076.42. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,960 shares of company stock worth $1,535,673. Insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart 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.