PFG Investments LLC Takes Position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

PFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $408,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 30,300.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 331.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 93.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $158,000. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TheStreet upgraded PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 13th.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PSMT traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $80.59. 214,580 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 160,070. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.82 and a 12-month high of $86.90. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $81.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.18.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s payout ratio is 29.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total value of $85,011.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $74,828.82. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total value of $85,011.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,643.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,713 shares of company stock worth $1,202,939 in the last three months. 18.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.