PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Holdings Lowered by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 228,595 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,136 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.74% of PriceSmart worth $20,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PriceSmart in the 4th quarter valued at about $591,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in PriceSmart by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 51,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,719,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in PriceSmart during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.85, for a total transaction of $90,361.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,340,483.15. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.21, for a total transaction of $306,630.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,329,854.31. This represents a 18.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,386 shares of company stock valued at $1,063,743 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Stock Down 1.5%

PSMT opened at $109.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.02. PriceSmart, Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.27 and a twelve month high of $113.59.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.46% and a net margin of 2.82%. PriceSmart’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded PriceSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th.

About PriceSmart

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.