River Road Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 206,987 PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) 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.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 8.4% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other news, 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 transaction of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,862 shares in the company, valued at $598,503.64. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $161,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,606,545. This represents a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,162 shares of company stock worth $1,930,402 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised PriceSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

PriceSmart Price Performance

PSMT stock opened at $87.87 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $90.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $90.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35 and a beta of 0.84. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.51 and a 52-week high of $99.23.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. PriceSmart’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

PriceSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.75%.

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.