PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT) to Issue Semi-annual Dividend of $0.63 on August 29th

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) declared a semi-annual dividend on Monday, February 10th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.63 per share on Friday, August 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This is a boost from PriceSmart’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.58.

PriceSmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 18.3% annually over the last three years. PriceSmart has a payout ratio of 20.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

PriceSmart Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $94.86 on Wednesday. PriceSmart has a twelve month low of $77.51 and a twelve month high of $99.23. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.10 and a 200-day moving average of $89.93.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.22). PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that PriceSmart will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut PriceSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

Insider Transactions at PriceSmart

In other PriceSmart news, CFO Michael Mccleary sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.67, for a total value of $358,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 58,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,213,503.47. This represents a 6.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Francisco Velasco sold 555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.42, for a total transaction of $50,183.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 79,008 shares in the company, valued at $7,143,903.36. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,262 shares of company stock worth $1,749,898 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

PriceSmart Company 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.