PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday.

PriceSmart Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of PSMT opened at $85.45 on Thursday. PriceSmart has a 12 month low of $64.41 and a 12 month high of $94.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that PriceSmart will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PriceSmart news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.03, for a total value of $75,281.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 84,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,681,566.55. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of PriceSmart in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,420,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 249.0% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 13,461 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 201.5% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 13,614 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 938.5% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 181,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,286,000 after purchasing an additional 164,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

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.