PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Plans Semi-annual Dividend of $0.63

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) announced a semi-annual dividend on Monday, February 10th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.63 per share on Friday, August 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is an increase from PriceSmart's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.58.

PriceSmart has increased its dividend by an average of 18.3% per year over the last three years. PriceSmart has a dividend payout ratio of 20.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

PriceSmart stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $93.80. 138,917 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 229,073. PriceSmart has a one year low of $77.51 and a one year high of $99.23. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $92.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In related news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total transaction of $96,552.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,862 shares in the company, valued at $598,503.64. This represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 1,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $161,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,545. This represents a 9.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,962 shares of company stock worth $1,911,398. 17.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.