Insider Selling: PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Sells 1,107 Shares of Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total value of $96,552.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,503.64. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

PriceSmart Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ PSMT traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $87.12. 156,782 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 255,228. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $74.74 and a 1-year high of $99.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.87. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PriceSmart

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 32,438 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,627,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of PriceSmart by 1.0% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Managed Asset Portfolios LLC increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Managed Asset Portfolios LLC now owns 81,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,493,000 after acquiring an additional 11,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

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.