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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of PSMT opened at $85.45 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart has a 12 month low of $64.41 and a 12 month high of $94.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.59.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 12.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that PriceSmart will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 827 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.03, for a total transaction of $75,281.81. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 84,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,681,566.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 18.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in PriceSmart in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,420,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in PriceSmart by 249.0% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 13,461 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in PriceSmart by 201.5% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 13,614 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in PriceSmart by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 938.5% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 181,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,286,000 after buying an additional 164,449 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.