Blair William & Co. IL Sells 190,741 Shares of Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its holdings in Pool Corporation by 26.9%, now owning approximately 1.38% of the company worth $164.73 million after selling 190,741 shares.
• Multiple hedge funds have made significant adjustments to their positions in Pool, with Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosting its stake by 471.4% in the first quarter.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Pool, with Oppenheimer setting a new target at $346.00 and highlighting a current consensus rating of "Hold".

Blair William & Co. IL cut its holdings in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL - Free Report) by 26.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 517,449 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 190,741 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 1.38% of Pool worth $164,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of POOL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,203,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,594 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,907,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,302 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $8,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 17,878 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $6,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 977,862 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $332,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,519 shares in the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on POOL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pool from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 price objective on Pool in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Pool from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Pool from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Pool from $322.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pool currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $342.14.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:POOL traded up $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $310.53. 72,896 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 523,000. The company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $301.87 and a 200 day moving average of $316.60. Pool Corporation has a 52-week low of $282.22 and a 52-week high of $395.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. Pool had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 7.79%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pool Corporation will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Pool's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.13%.

Pool announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.