PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Plans None Dividend of $1.00

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) announced a None dividend on Wednesday, April 3rd, NASDAQ reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 1.00 per share on Tuesday, April 30th. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th.

PriceSmart has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. PriceSmart has a payout ratio of 27.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect PriceSmart to earn $5.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.3%.

PriceSmart Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of PriceSmart stock traded down $1.51 on Tuesday, hitting $78.20. 136,307 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 154,796. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $81.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. PriceSmart has a 52 week low of $61.82 and a 52 week high of $86.90. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.92.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that PriceSmart will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PSMT shares. TheStreet raised shares of PriceSmart from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PriceSmart from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total transaction of $74,828.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $74,828.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at $636,404.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total transaction of $85,011.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,822 shares in the company, valued at $697,643.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PriceSmart

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,319,255 shares of the company's stock worth $251,533,000 after buying an additional 141,920 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 6.1% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,592,064 shares of the company's stock worth $185,281,000 after buying an additional 148,758 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,048,755 shares of the company's stock worth $82,716,000 after buying an additional 6,531 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 0.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 998,361 shares of the company's stock worth $73,939,000 after buying an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 4.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 562,461 shares of the company's stock worth $41,656,000 after buying an additional 23,262 shares during the period. 80.46% of the stock is 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.