Nuveen Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Leslie’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:LESL)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Leslie’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:LESL – Get Rating) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 575,595 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,325 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.31% of Leslie’s worth $8,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Leslie’s by 8.2% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Leslie’s by 7.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,639,000 after purchasing an additional 232,791 shares during the period. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in shares of Leslie’s by 111.8% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 25,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 13,289 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Leslie’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,941,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,276,000 after purchasing an additional 18,006 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Leslie’s by 3.4% during the third quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 295,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,343,000 after purchasing an additional 9,843 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Investor Aggregator L. Bubbles sold 9,343,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.02, for a total transaction of $112,308,857.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,776,904 shares in the company, valued at $105,498,386.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LESL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Leslie’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Leslie’s to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Leslie’s in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered Leslie’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on Leslie’s from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.22.

Leslie’s Trading Down 3.0 %

LESL opened at $12.06 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.86. The company has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.85. Leslie’s, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $21.73.

Leslie’s (NASDAQ:LESL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.01). Leslie’s had a net margin of 9.11% and a negative return on equity of 56.91%. The company had revenue of $195.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.82 million. On average, analysts predict that Leslie’s, Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Leslie’s Company Profile

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Leslie's, Inc operates as a direct-to-consumer pool and spa care brand in the United States. The company markets and sells pool and spa supplies and related products and services. It offers various pool and spa maintenance items, such as chemicals, equipment and parts, cleaning and maintenance equipment, safety, recreational, and fitness related products, as well as installation and repair services for pool and spa equipment.