PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $126.72 and last traded at $125.8750, with a volume of 5914 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $125.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on PSMT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of PriceSmart in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, PriceSmart has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy”.

PriceSmart Trading Up 1.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $120.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.55. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 0.76.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.08). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. PriceSmart’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In other news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $99,941.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,768.32. This trade represents a 10.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.10, for a total value of $1,151,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 115,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,307,286.50. This trade represents a 7.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 22,460 shares of company stock worth $2,546,968 in the last quarter. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 12.8% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 33,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 3,812 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the first quarter valued at approximately $191,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in PriceSmart by 11.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 914.7% during the 1st quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 53,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 48,588 shares during the period. 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.