Ridgewood Investments LLC Has $71,000 Stock Position in PriceSmart, Inc. $PSMT

Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its stake in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 42.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 675 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in PriceSmart were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of PriceSmart by 560.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in PriceSmart in the first quarter valued at $49,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PriceSmart in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in PriceSmart by 119.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PriceSmart by 24.3% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded PriceSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of PriceSmart stock opened at $115.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $110.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.53. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1-year low of $81.25 and a 1-year high of $120.99. The company has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39 and a beta of 0.79.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.02). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.46% and a net margin of 2.82%.The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.31, for a total transaction of $58,470.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,282,399.48. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Mccleary sold 9,754 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.62, for a total value of $1,078,987.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,208,210.84. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

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.