Foundry Partners LLC Invests $512,000 in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $512,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PriceSmart during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in PriceSmart by 393.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in PriceSmart by 17,300.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $85.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77 and a beta of 0.84. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.51 and a 1 year high of $99.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.14.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 8,020 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total value of $725,890.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 123,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,182,238.97. This trade represents a 6.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $161,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,606,545. This represents a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th.

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.