PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

PSMT traded up $1.93 on Thursday, hitting $80.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 387,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,238. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart has a 12 month low of $61.82 and a 12 month high of $87.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. PriceSmart’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that PriceSmart will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 6,000 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.92, for a total transaction of $491,520.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 140,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,508,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,406.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.92, for a total transaction of $491,520.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 140,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,508,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,200 shares of company stock worth $2,260,293. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PriceSmart

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in PriceSmart by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in PriceSmart by 237.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 30,300.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in PriceSmart in the first quarter worth about $85,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 331.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. 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.