Park Avenue Securities LLC Reduces Stock Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,241 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Pool were worth $764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Pool by 113.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 21,810 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,436,000 after buying an additional 11,580 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pool in the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. Wallace Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Pool by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its position in Pool by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 2,409 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $821,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 13,619 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,643,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on POOL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Pool from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Pool from $377.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Pool from $380.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Pool from $330.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $369.25.

Pool Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ POOL opened at $359.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.03. Pool Co. has a 52 week low of $293.51 and a 52 week high of $422.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $355.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $354.58. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The specialty retailer reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.50 EPS. Pool’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pool Co. will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.31%.

Pool 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.