PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

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

PriceSmart Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ PSMT opened at $80.23 on Friday. PriceSmart has a 12 month low of $61.82 and a 12 month high of $87.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $82.25 and its 200 day moving average is $80.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In related news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 505 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,685 shares in the company, valued at $135,406.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Sherry S. Bahrambeygui sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.08, for a total transaction of $430,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 70,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,087,233.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 505 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total value of $40,581.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,406.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $2,175,282 in the last three months. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PriceSmart

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,202,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of PriceSmart by 496.2% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in PriceSmart by 1.1% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,713,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,931,000 after acquiring an additional 30,045 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of PriceSmart during the first quarter valued at approximately $780,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PSMT. StockNews.com lowered PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th.

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.