DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Increases Stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) by 63.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,998 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,718 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's holdings in PriceSmart were worth $590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PSMT. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 9.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 124,431 shares of the company's stock worth $10,931,000 after purchasing an additional 11,181 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 2.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 131,194 shares of the company's stock worth $11,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,003 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 24.3% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 654 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Kendall Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 9.8% in the first quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 11,485 shares of the company's stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 19.3% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 10,785 shares of the company's stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.78, for a total transaction of $40,084.20. Following the sale, the director owned 9,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $953,695.62. This represents a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.00, for a total transaction of $208,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,145,144. The trade was a 15.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,386 shares of company stock valued at $1,063,743 over the last quarter. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PSMT stock traded up $1.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $107.57. The company had a trading volume of 409,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 201,190. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.27 and a 52-week high of $113.59. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $105.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 0.78.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.46% and a net margin of 2.82%. PriceSmart's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.