5,312 Shares in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Acquired by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 5,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in PriceSmart by 393.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 17,300.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 870 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $88.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $88.96 and a 200 day moving average of $90.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.84. PriceSmart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.51 and a fifty-two week high of $99.23.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.67, for a total transaction of $358,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 58,141 shares in the company, valued at $5,213,503.47. This represents a 6.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total value of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,503.64. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,162 shares of company stock worth $1,930,402. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.