Insider Selling: PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Sells 550 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Francisco Velasco, the Executive Vice President of PriceSmart, sold 550 shares at an average price of $122.82, totaling about $67,551, and now owns 80,548 shares.
• PriceSmart reported a 7.1% year-over-year revenue increase in its last quarter, totaling $1.32 billion, although it missed earnings estimates by $0.02 with an EPS of $1.14.
• Institutional investors have shown activity, with companies like American Century and Invesco increasing their stakes in PriceSmart during the second quarter.

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) EVP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.82, for a total transaction of $67,551.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 80,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,892,905.36. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

PriceSmart Trading Down 0.1%

PSMT stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $121.18. 103,126 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 234,878. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $113.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.14. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $81.25 and a 1 year high of $124.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56 and a beta of 0.83.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. PriceSmart's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,706 shares of the company's stock worth $147,236,000 after buying an additional 100,785 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in PriceSmart by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,045,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,872,000 after purchasing an additional 24,512 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in PriceSmart by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 782,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,730,000 after purchasing an additional 160,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in PriceSmart by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 740,720 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,812,000 after purchasing an additional 13,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in PriceSmart by 54.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,936,000 after purchasing an additional 194,980 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on PSMT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of PriceSmart in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of PriceSmart from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, PriceSmart currently has an average rating of "Buy".

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.

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