PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th.

PriceSmart Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $83.26 on Thursday. PriceSmart has a 52-week low of $61.82 and a 52-week high of $87.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.27 and its 200-day moving average is $80.62. 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 company has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. PriceSmart’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that PriceSmart will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $74,828.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total transaction of $74,828.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,404.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 6,000 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.92, for a total transaction of $491,520.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 140,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,508,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $2,175,282 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 5.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.