Gordon H. Hanson Sells 1,107 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total transaction of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,503.64. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

PriceSmart Price Performance

NASDAQ PSMT traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $87.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 156,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,228. The company’s 50-day moving average is $91.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.87. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.86. PriceSmart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.74 and a fifty-two week high of $99.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.26.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its earnings results 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). PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. PriceSmart’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PriceSmart

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 22,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in PriceSmart by 20.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after buying an additional 5,401 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 46.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,802,000 after acquiring an additional 30,581 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,309,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,311,000 after acquiring an additional 35,390 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 37.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 106,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,621,000 after acquiring an additional 28,800 shares in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

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.