LPL Financial LLC Buys 18,477 Shares of Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL - Free Report) by 44.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,073 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 18,477 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Pool worth $19,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in POOL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Pool by 471.4% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 80 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Pool during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Pool by 790.9% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 98 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pool in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Pool in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 98.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on POOL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Pool in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Pool from $322.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Pool from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Pool from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Pool from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $342.14.

Pool Stock Down 0.8%

POOL traded down $2.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $309.56. 236,627 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 522,809. Pool Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $282.22 and a fifty-two week high of $395.60. The company has a market cap of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $302.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $316.57.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $1.79 billion. Pool had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 7.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Pool Corporation will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. Pool's payout ratio is presently 46.13%.

Pool announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.