PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO John D. Hildebrandt Sells 8,020 Shares

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 8,020 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total transaction of $725,890.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 123,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,182,238.97. This trade represents a 6.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $90.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.74 and a 52 week high of $99.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $91.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.86.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.22). PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in PriceSmart by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,802,000 after purchasing an additional 30,581 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 21.0% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 1,562 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the second quarter worth about $268,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of PriceSmart during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in PriceSmart by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after acquiring an additional 8,633 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.