De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez Sells 10,000 Shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Stock

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Director De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.00, for a total transaction of $3,460,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,577 shares in the company, valued at $21,651,642. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Pool Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:POOL opened at $347.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.03. Pool Co. has a 1 year low of $293.51 and a 1 year high of $422.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $343.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $355.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.08. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The firm had revenue of $987.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $961.04 million. Analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pool

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pool by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,443,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,514,950,000 after acquiring an additional 21,870 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Pool by 22.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,260,313 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $474,886,000 after acquiring an additional 232,914 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Pool by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,042,514 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $355,435,000 after acquiring an additional 224,674 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pool by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 977,862 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $332,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,519 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pool by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 763,817 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $260,416,000 after acquiring an additional 44,884 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

POOL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Pool from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pool from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $368.00.

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.