Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,080 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 36 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pool were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,578 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,993,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pool by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

POOL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Pool from $370.00 to $322.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Pool from $325.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stephens reduced their target price on Pool from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on Pool in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Pool in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $344.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $336.22.

Pool Price Performance

POOL stock opened at $302.76 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $309.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $337.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 2.05. The firm has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. Pool Co. has a 1 year low of $284.28 and a 1 year high of $395.60.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The specialty retailer reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company’s revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pool Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This is an increase from Pool’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Pool’s payout ratio is 46.90%.

Pool announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pool

In other news, SVP Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,667 shares in the company, valued at $3,045,105. This represents a 11.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $3,460,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 62,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,651,642. The trade was a 13.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Pool

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.