Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.20

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of 1.20 per share by the specialty retailer on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th.

Pool has raised its dividend by an average of 16.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Pool has a payout ratio of 38.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Pool to earn $12.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

Pool Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:POOL opened at $342.54 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $293.51 and a fifty-two week high of $422.73. The stock has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $343.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $355.57.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $987.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $961.04 million. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pool will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pool

In other Pool news, Director De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez sold 10,000 shares of Pool stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.00, for a total value of $3,460,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,651,642. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on POOL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Pool from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $368.00.

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.