PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Plans $0.63 Dividend

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) declared a dividend on Thursday, February 6th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.63 per share on Friday, February 28th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th.

PriceSmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 18.3% annually over the last three years. PriceSmart has a dividend payout ratio of 20.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $91.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.00. PriceSmart has a one year low of $77.51 and a one year high of $99.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 12.29%. PriceSmart’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts expect that PriceSmart will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In other news, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.67, for a total value of $358,680.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 58,141 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,503.47. This represents a 6.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 8,020 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total value of $725,890.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 123,547 shares in the company, valued at $11,182,238.97. The trade was a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,162 shares of company stock worth $1,930,402. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.