Atria Investments Inc Sells 868 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its position in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 28.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,234 shares of the company’s stock after selling 868 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PSMT. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,085,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,175,000 after buying an additional 184,252 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,424,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,671,000 after purchasing an additional 105,405 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 481,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,163,000 after purchasing an additional 75,896 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 234,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,047,000 after purchasing an additional 52,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 179.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,633,000 after purchasing an additional 36,614 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In related news, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 3,235 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.96, for a total value of $291,020.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,986,037.64. The trade was a 6.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.62, for a total value of $358,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,141 shares in the company, valued at $5,569,076.42. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,960 shares of company stock worth $1,535,673. 18.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday.

PriceSmart Price Performance

PSMT opened at $89.96 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.45. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.95 and a 1 year high of $94.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.