Sherry S. Bahrambeygui Sells 1,500 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.52, for a total value of $120,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 98,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,931,864.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

PriceSmart Price Performance

PSMT traded up $0.16 on Monday, hitting $81.65. 55,965 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 158,391. 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 12 month low of $61.82 and a 12 month high of $86.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.07.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.15%.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in PriceSmart by 114.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 492,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,692,000 after acquiring an additional 263,016 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in PriceSmart by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,319,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,533,000 after purchasing an additional 141,920 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new position in PriceSmart during the 3rd quarter worth $7,951,000. Fourth Sail Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,738,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of PriceSmart by 2,132.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 88,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,670,000 after acquiring an additional 84,073 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 13th.

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.