PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Sells $50,183.10 in Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Francisco Velasco sold 555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.42, for a total transaction of $50,183.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,143,903.36. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

PriceSmart Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ PSMT traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $90.79. The company had a trading volume of 315,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 258,328. The company’s fifty day moving average is $91.28 and its 200-day moving average is $89.19. PriceSmart, Inc. has a one year low of $74.74 and a one year high of $99.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PriceSmart

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSMT. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PriceSmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 96.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 823 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 66.7% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.