PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT) to Issue Dividend of $0.63 on February 28th

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) declared a dividend on Thursday, February 6th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.63 per share on Friday, February 28th. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th.

PriceSmart has raised its dividend by an average of 18.3% per year over the last three years. PriceSmart has a dividend payout ratio of 20.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

PriceSmart Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PSMT opened at $91.14 on Friday. PriceSmart has a 1-year low of $77.51 and a 1-year high of $99.23. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.00.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 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 business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that PriceSmart will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total transaction of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.42, for a total transaction of $50,183.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,143,903.36. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,162 shares of company stock worth $1,930,402 in the last quarter. 17.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.