Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 506 Shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its position in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,821 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 506 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Pool were worth $2,720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter worth $745,000. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 2,208 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $880,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 250.0% in the fourth quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 77 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pool by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 29,649 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $11,822,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pool Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of POOL stock opened at $372.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.88. Pool Co. has a 52-week low of $307.77 and a 52-week high of $422.73. The company has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $389.87 and its 200 day moving average is $375.37.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The specialty retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by ($0.02). Pool had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 35.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pool Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is an increase from Pool’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on POOL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Pool from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet lowered Pool from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Pool from $436.00 to $416.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pool

In other Pool news, General Counsel Jennifer M. Neil sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $401.00, for a total transaction of $441,100.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,622 shares in the company, valued at $3,457,422. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.