Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Pool (NASDAQ:POOL – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Pool from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $417.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Pool from $368.00 to $404.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Pool in a research report on Thursday, March 9th. They issued an outperform rating and a $408.00 target price for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Pool in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. They issued an underperform rating and a $291.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Pool from $375.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $391.09.

Pool Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of POOL stock opened at $341.83 on Thursday. Pool has a 12 month low of $278.10 and a 12 month high of $488.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $363.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.09. The company has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.93.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty retailer reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.21). Pool had a net margin of 12.11% and a return on equity of 61.70%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Pool will post 16.49 EPS for the current year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of POOL. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pool by 226.5% in the second quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 111 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Pool by 191.5% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 137 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 98.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pool Company Profile

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Pool Corp. engages in the wholesale distribution of swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products. It also offers non-discretionary pool maintenance products such as chemicals and replacement parts, discretionary products like packaged pool kits, whole goods, irrigation, and landscape products, including a complete line of commercial and residential irrigation products and parts, power equipment for the professional landscape market, specialty products such as outdoor lighting, grills, and outdoor kitchen components, and golf irrigation and water management products.