PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Shares Bought by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 2.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,600 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $1,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. 80.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.37, for a total value of $801,515.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 61,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,164,793.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.37, for a total value of $801,515.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 61,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,164,793.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 1,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.00, for a total transaction of $112,926.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,112,337. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,731 shares of company stock worth $1,881,996 over the last ninety days. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of PSMT opened at $91.16 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.82 and a 52-week high of $93.18.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.