PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PSMT stock opened at $86.25 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.20. PriceSmart has a 52-week low of $61.82 and a 52-week high of $92.76. The stock has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 2.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that PriceSmart will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 9,500 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.37, for a total transaction of $801,515.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,216 shares in the company, valued at $5,164,793.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.51, for a total value of $350,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 67,474 shares in the company, valued at $5,904,649.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.37, for a total transaction of $801,515.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 61,216 shares in the company, valued at $5,164,793.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,471 shares of company stock worth $2,537,447 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PriceSmart

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in PriceSmart by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in PriceSmart by 237.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in PriceSmart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of PriceSmart during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 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.