River Road Asset Management LLC Invests $19.08 Million in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 206,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,078,000. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.68% of PriceSmart at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PSMT. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 8.4% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 330.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,076,000 after acquiring an additional 17,356 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.3% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 24,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,211,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 4.6% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 25,983 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 45.9% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 12,009 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PriceSmart news, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 1,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $161,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,606,545. This trade represents a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,162 shares of company stock valued at $1,930,402 over the last quarter. 17.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT traded down $1.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.92. The company had a trading volume of 165,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,193. PriceSmart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.51 and a twelve month high of $99.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.43. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $90.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.52.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. PriceSmart's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.75%.

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.