Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,679 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in PriceSmart during the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of PriceSmart by 93.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter worth $158,000. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the third quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PriceSmart in the fourth quarter worth $272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Price Performance

PSMT opened at $80.91 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33 and a beta of 0.92. PriceSmart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.82 and a twelve month high of $86.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. PriceSmart’s payout ratio is 29.15%.

Insider Activity at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total transaction of $74,828.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other PriceSmart news, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total transaction of $74,828.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,404.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.08, for a total transaction of $85,011.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $697,643.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th.

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.