Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys Shares of 2,817 Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC bought a new position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,817 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $960,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in POOL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Pool in the third quarter valued at approximately $152,249,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Pool by 22.7% during the third 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 137,445 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Pool in the 3rd quarter worth $40,750,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Pool by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 217,572 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $81,981,000 after purchasing an additional 66,791 shares in the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

POOL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Pool from $380.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com cut Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Pool from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Pool from $377.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Pool from $330.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $369.25.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of POOL stock opened at $359.18 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $355.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $354.58. Pool Co. has a one year low of $293.51 and a one year high of $422.73. The stock has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The specialty retailer reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Pool had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 31.89%. Pool’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pool Co. will post 11.03 EPS for the current year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

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

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.