Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $917,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in POOL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 865,362 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $308,156,000 after purchasing an additional 313,190 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 463.2% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 240,623 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $85,686,000 after purchasing an additional 197,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 30,047.2% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 183,898 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,322,000 after purchasing an additional 183,288 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 339,378 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $120,852,000 after purchasing an additional 120,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Pool by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 634,329 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $225,885,000 after acquiring an additional 114,298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Pool Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ POOL opened at $370.00 on Friday. Pool Co. has a 1 year low of $307.77 and a 1 year high of $422.73. The stock has a market cap of $14.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $393.49 and a 200 day moving average of $373.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.02. Pool had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 37.94%. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.79 EPS. Pool’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 13.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pool news, General Counsel Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,100 shares of Pool stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $401.00, for a total value of $441,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,457,422. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

POOL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered shares of Pool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Pool in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. TheStreet lowered shares of Pool from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Pool from $407.00 to $436.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $397.80.

About Pool

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.