Bank of New York Mellon Corp Decreases Stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 235,731 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,480 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.77% of PriceSmart worth $21,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PriceSmart in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in PriceSmart by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in PriceSmart by 313.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,037 shares of the company's stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total transaction of $96,552.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,862 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $598,503.64. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 8,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total value of $725,890.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 123,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,182,238.97. This represents a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,162 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,402. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday.

PriceSmart Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PSMT traded down $1.95 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $85.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 165,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,193. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.52. The stock has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.51 and a 12 month high of $99.23.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.22). PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. PriceSmart's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

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

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.