Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $369.11.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Pool from $380.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Pool from $377.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Pool from $330.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Pool from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of POOL stock opened at $361.64 on Friday. Pool has a one year low of $293.51 and a one year high of $422.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $360.80 and its 200 day moving average is $352.76. The company has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The specialty retailer reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.11. Pool had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 31.89%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Pool will post 11.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pool

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of POOL. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Pool during the 1st quarter worth $96,528,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 37,863.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 137,808 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,926,000 after buying an additional 137,445 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Pool by 67.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 306,447 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $123,651,000 after acquiring an additional 123,387 shares in the last quarter. Caledonia Investments PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pool during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,390,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Pool by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 433,166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $133,125,000 after acquiring an additional 90,951 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Pool Company Profile

Pool Corporation distributes swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products in the United States and internationally. The company offers maintenance products, including chemicals, supplies, and pool accessories; repair and replacement parts for pool equipment, such as cleaners, filters, heaters, pumps, and lights; and building materials, such as concrete, plumbing and electrical components, functional and decorative pool surfaces, decking materials, tiles, hardscapes, and natural stones for pool installations and remodeling.