Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,667 Shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,224 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned 0.06% of Pool worth $9,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in POOL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Pool by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,424,510 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,870,904,000 after buying an additional 12,654 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Pool by 3.6% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,845,204 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $657,077,000 after buying an additional 63,413 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pool by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,510,384 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $565,850,000 after buying an additional 54,292 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in Pool by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,502,159 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $454,148,000 after buying an additional 139,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Pool by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,204,052 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $364,021,000 after buying an additional 462,507 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $401.00, for a total transaction of $441,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,457,422. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pool Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Pool stock opened at $401.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $393.42 and a 200-day moving average of $369.54. The stock has a market cap of $15.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.00. Pool Co. has a 52-week low of $307.77 and a 52-week high of $422.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 2.36.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Pool had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 37.94%. Pool’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pool Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio is 33.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on POOL. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Pool from $407.00 to $436.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Pool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Pool from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Pool in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Pool in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pool presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $388.63.

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.