American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,085,897 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 184,252 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 3.54% of PriceSmart worth $88,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in PriceSmart by 2.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in PriceSmart by 76.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.9% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 9,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of PriceSmart by 5.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of PriceSmart by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PriceSmart Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $89.76 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.82 and a 1-year high of $92.76. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.58. The company has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.79 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.07. PriceSmart had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other PriceSmart news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 1,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.00, for a total value of $112,926.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,751 shares in the company, valued at $7,112,337. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 1,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.00, for a total value of $112,926.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,112,337. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David R. Price sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.85, for a total value of $175,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,547,818.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,904 shares of company stock worth $1,806,714 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.