Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $112.25 Million Position in PriceSmart, Inc. $PSMT

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in PriceSmart by 2.1% in the first quarter, now owning 1,277,834 shares valued at $112.25 million.
• PriceSmart was downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a change in analyst sentiment.
• Executive VP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares recently, reducing their ownership by 0.70% while retaining a significant stake valued at approximately $8.28 million.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,277,834 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,864 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 4.16% of PriceSmart worth $112,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PSMT. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 536.7% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 312 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 119.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 635 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 654 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.31, for a total value of $58,470.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,282,399.48. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock traded up $0.86 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $109.61. 61,159 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 235,220. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.28. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.25 and a 1-year high of $114.01. The company has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $107.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.53.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded PriceSmart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd.

PriceSmart Company 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.