Short Interest in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Rises By 33.8%

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,640,000 shares, a growth of 33.8% from the April 30th total of 2,720,000 shares. Currently, 10.0% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 500,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.3 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,223 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,105. This represents a 11.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pool

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 232,914 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Pool by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,737 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,056 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $16,725,000 after purchasing an additional 10,880 shares in the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 32,763 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $11,170,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Pool during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,735,000. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

POOL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Pool from $325.00 to $310.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 price objective on Pool in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Pool from $370.00 to $322.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Pool in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "hold" rating and a $344.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on Pool from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Pool has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $336.22.

Pool Stock Performance

Pool stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $309.95. 299,392 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 404,981. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $305.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.20. Pool has a one year low of $284.28 and a one year high of $395.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The specialty retailer reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Pool had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 8.18%. The business's revenue was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pool will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Pool Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a positive change from Pool's previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Pool's payout ratio is presently 46.90%.

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.