Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in PriceSmart by 393.1% during the fourth 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 lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 17,300.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 870 shares of the company's stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of PriceSmart by 49.0% in 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 in the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th.

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PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 320,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 182,565. 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 one year low of $77.51 and a one year high of $99.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $87.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 0.87.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.76% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The business's revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, COO John D. Hildebrandt sold 580 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.40, for a total transaction of $53,592.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,279.20. The trade was a 40.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 1,700 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,606,545. The trade was a 9.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,162 shares of company stock worth $1,930,402. 17.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.