PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Trading 3.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) shares traded up 3.1% on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $82.00 to $90.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. PriceSmart traded as high as $80.72 and last traded at $80.61. 34,409 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 153,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.20.

PSMT has been the subject of several other reports. TheStreet raised shares of PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 13th.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $74,828.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total value of $85,011.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,643.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 7,969 shares in the company, valued at $636,404.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PSMT. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 80.3% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 759 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 30,300.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 331.4% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PriceSmart Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.79 and its 200 day moving average is $75.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

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. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders 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 (DPR) is currently 29.15%.

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.