Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 125,360 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,908 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.41% of PriceSmart worth $11,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in PriceSmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in PriceSmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in PriceSmart by 76.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in PriceSmart by 237.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in PriceSmart during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of PriceSmart from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

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

PriceSmart Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ PSMT opened at $87.21 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.23. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 52 week low of $66.79 and a 52 week high of $94.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 0.85.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.