Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) by 76.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,408 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,829 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in PriceSmart were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 2.7% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,818,927 shares of the company's stock worth $258,721,000 after purchasing an additional 74,201 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 5.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,182,739 shares of the company's stock worth $108,552,000 after purchasing an additional 65,492 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in PriceSmart by 3.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 684,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,868,000 after acquiring an additional 25,216 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its position in PriceSmart by 18.7% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 481,182 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,163,000 after acquiring an additional 75,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in PriceSmart by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 438,517 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,247,000 after acquiring an additional 15,245 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,503.64. The trade was a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total value of $725,890.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 123,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,182,238.97. This trade represents a 6.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,497 shares of company stock worth $1,934,398. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PriceSmart Trading Down 1.2 %

PSMT stock traded down $1.07 on Friday, reaching $91.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 186,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,070. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.78. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.51 and a 12-month high of $99.23. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19 and a beta of 0.85. 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 (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 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 firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

PriceSmart Company 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.