Arizona State Retirement System Sells 135 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 80.3% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 93.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the period. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. TheStreet upgraded PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

PriceSmart Stock Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ PSMT opened at $82.85 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.49. PriceSmart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.82 and a fifty-two week high of $86.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 0.92.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.15%.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other news, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total transaction of $85,011.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,822 shares in the company, valued at $697,643.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares in the company, valued at $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total transaction of $85,011.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,643.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.60% 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.