Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Takes $1.34 Million Position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 14,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,335,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PSMT. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in PriceSmart by 76.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 496.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the company's stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in PriceSmart by 6.1% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,911 shares of the company's stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at about $306,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at about $89,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PriceSmart news, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 5,478 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $497,566.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,966,106.18. The trade was a 20.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David R. Price sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.24, for a total value of $253,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,505,370.56. This represents a 5.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,290 shares of company stock valued at $1,476,009. Company insiders own 18.60% of the company's stock.

PriceSmart Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of PSMT stock traded up $3.33 on Monday, hitting $94.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 64,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 149,832. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04 and a beta of 0.86. PriceSmart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.26 and a fifty-two week high of $95.22. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $90.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.73.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.83% and a return on equity of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th.

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.