Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 12,500 PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $947,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,177,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,489,000 after purchasing an additional 133,814 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 114.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 492,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,692,000 after acquiring an additional 263,016 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 392,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,216,000 after acquiring an additional 11,470 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 293,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,817,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 178,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854 shares during the last quarter. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

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

PriceSmart Price Performance

Shares of PSMT opened at $80.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.98. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.82 and a 1-year high of $86.90.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last announced its 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PSMT shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of PriceSmart from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th.

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.