Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 6,413 PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% in 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. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 393.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 17,300.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 870 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.46% of the company's stock.

PriceSmart Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of PSMT traded down $1.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $104.45. The stock had a trading volume of 170,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,646. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.99. PriceSmart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.51 and a twelve month high of $106.55. 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 $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01 and a beta of 0.75.

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

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a yield of 1.2%. PriceSmart's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.74, for a total transaction of $54,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 78,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,825,400.92. This trade 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 hyperlink. 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,039 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,340,483.15. This trade represents a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,346 shares of company stock worth $325,723. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note 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.