William Blair Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 11.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 576,652 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 71,396 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.50% of Pool worth $177,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in POOL. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Pool by 6.0% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 843,650 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $340,413,000 after acquiring an additional 47,640 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Pool by 9.6% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 525,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $211,839,000 after purchasing an additional 45,953 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Pool by 26.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 433,166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $133,125,000 after purchasing an additional 90,951 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Pool by 9.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 430,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $132,244,000 after buying an additional 37,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pool by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 334,839 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $133,504,000 after buying an additional 37,348 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on POOL shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Pool from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Pool from $425.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Pool from $356.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Pool from $365.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $350.00.

Pool Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ POOL opened at $356.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Pool Co. has a one year low of $293.51 and a one year high of $422.73. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $344.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $360.88.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty retailer reported $4.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.90 by $0.09. Pool had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 32.85%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 10.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.56%.

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.