PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) Declares $0.63 Semi-annual Dividend

PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) declared a semi-annual dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,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 yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th.

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

PriceSmart Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $94.65 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $92.02 and its 200 day moving average is $89.88. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 0.85. PriceSmart has a 52-week low of $77.51 and a 52-week high of $99.23.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at PriceSmart

In related news, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 3,235 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.96, for a total transaction of $291,020.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,309 shares in the company, valued at $3,986,037.64. This represents a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gordon H. Hanson sold 1,107 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.22, for a total value of $96,552.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,862 shares in the company, valued at $598,503.64. This trade represents a 13.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,497 shares of company stock valued at $2,040,918. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.