Fenimore Asset Management Inc Reduces Stock Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Fenimore Asset Management Inc cut its position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 94,773 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 5,091 shares during the quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Pool were worth $30,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of POOL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Pool by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,260,313 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $474,886,000 after acquiring an additional 232,914 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Pool by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,395 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,513,000 after buying an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Pool by 349.4% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 1,988 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Pool by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Pool by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 690 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pool

In other news, SVP Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,105. This trade represents a 11.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on POOL shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Pool in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price target on shares of Pool in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Pool from $370.00 to $322.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Pool in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating and a $344.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pool currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $336.22.

Pool Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of POOL opened at $297.08 on Monday. Pool Co. has a twelve month low of $284.28 and a twelve month high of $395.60. The company has a market cap of $11.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.83.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The specialty retailer reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Pool had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 8.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Pool announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Pool Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from Pool’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.90%.

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.