PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO John D. Hildebrandt Sells 6,000 Shares

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.92, for a total value of $491,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 140,485 shares in the company, valued at $11,508,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

PriceSmart Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of PSMT stock traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $80.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 214,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 160,070. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.82 and a 52-week high of $86.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.92.

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

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s payout ratio is 29.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSMT. American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 263,016 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,319,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,533,000 after acquiring an additional 141,920 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter worth about $7,951,000. Fourth Sail Capital LP bought a new position in shares of PriceSmart in the fourth quarter worth about $7,738,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 2,132.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 88,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,670,000 after acquiring an additional 84,073 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

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.