PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

PriceSmart Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of PSMT stock opened at $89.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. PriceSmart has a fifty-two week low of $66.95 and a fifty-two week high of $94.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $90.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.40.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 12.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that PriceSmart will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In other news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 670 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.05, for a total transaction of $59,663.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 79,470 shares in the company, valued at $7,076,803.50. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David R. Price sold 2,750 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.24, for a total transaction of $253,660.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,844 shares in the company, valued at $4,505,370.56. This represents a 5.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,960 shares of company stock valued at $1,535,673 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 2.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 76.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 1.9% in the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 5.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 3.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.