Baird Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.11 Million in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,111,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Barclays PLC boosted its position in PriceSmart by 227.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,287,000 after purchasing an additional 32,438 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in PriceSmart by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 42,955 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,942,000 after acquiring an additional 3,406 shares during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in PriceSmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,030,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 681 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,408 shares of the company's stock worth $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 5,829 shares in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other PriceSmart news, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.21, for a total value of $306,630.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,329,854.31. This trade represents a 18.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 896 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.85, for a total value of $90,361.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,039 shares in the company, valued at $4,340,483.15. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,836 shares of company stock valued at $1,005,273 over the last three months. Insiders own 17.10% of the company's stock.

PriceSmart Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of PSMT stock traded up $1.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $104.71. The company had a trading volume of 177,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 190,121. The company has a 50 day moving average of $92.73 and a 200 day moving average of $91.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06 and a beta of 0.75. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.51 and a 1-year high of $108.01.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.51 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

PriceSmart 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.