PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 18th

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) announced a None dividend on Wednesday, April 3rd, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 1.00 per share on Tuesday, April 30th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th.

PriceSmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. PriceSmart has a dividend payout ratio of 27.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect PriceSmart to earn $5.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.3%.

PriceSmart Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PSMT opened at $79.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.49. PriceSmart has a 1-year low of $61.82 and a 1-year high of $86.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.68 and a 200 day moving average of $75.68.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 10th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 2.62%. PriceSmart’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that PriceSmart will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Edgar Zurcher sold 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $697,643.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PriceSmart

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in PriceSmart by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 13,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in PriceSmart by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 13,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,016,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 0.4% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 45,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,235,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart by 1.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in PriceSmart by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PSMT. TheStreet raised PriceSmart from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday.

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.