Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 26,544 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) by 431.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,703 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,544 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of PriceSmart worth $3,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSMT. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of PriceSmart in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in PriceSmart during the second quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in PriceSmart during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in PriceSmart during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. 80.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other PriceSmart news, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 5,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total transaction of $497,566.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,966,106.18. The trade was a 20.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 3,235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.96, for a total value of $291,020.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,986,037.64. This trade represents a 6.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,960 shares of company stock worth $1,535,673 over the last three months. 18.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

PriceSmart Stock Performance

PSMT opened at $89.96 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.40. PriceSmart, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.95 and a 1 year high of $94.82.

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

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.