PriceSmart, Inc. Declares Semi-annual Dividend of $0.63 (NASDAQ:PSMT)

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) declared a semi-annual dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 0.63 per share on Friday, August 29th. This represents a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th.

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

PriceSmart Stock Performance

NASDAQ PSMT opened at $93.55 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart has a 52-week low of $77.51 and a 52-week high of $99.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.95.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total value of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,503.64. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.67, for a total transaction of $358,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 58,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,213,503.47. This represents a 6.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,962 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,398 over the last quarter. 17.10% 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.