Insider Selling: PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Sells $59,663.50 in Stock

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) EVP Francisco Velasco sold 670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.05, for a total transaction of $59,663.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,076,803.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Francisco Velasco also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, July 16th, Francisco Velasco sold 1,298 shares of PriceSmart stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.00, for a total transaction of $112,926.00.

PriceSmart Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ PSMT opened at $89.03 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart, Inc. has a one year low of $61.82 and a one year high of $92.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.20.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Institutional Trading of PriceSmart

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new stake in PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in PriceSmart by 2.2% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 103,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 2.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 13,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of PriceSmart by 10.8% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 84,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,889,000 after acquiring an additional 8,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in shares of PriceSmart during the second quarter worth about $934,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

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.