PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. PriceSmart’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis.

PriceSmart Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of PSMT stock opened at $80.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart has a one year low of $61.82 and a one year high of $87.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PSMT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $40,581.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,406.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $40,581.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,685 shares in the company, valued at $135,406.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $2,175,282 in the last three months. Company insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSMT. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 237.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 30,300.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 331.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in PriceSmart during the 1st quarter valued at about $85,000. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.