EntryPoint Capital LLC Lowers Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

EntryPoint Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 33.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 610 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 302 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Pool were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pool by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,443,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,514,950,000 after purchasing an additional 21,870 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Pool by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 41,596 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $14,182,000 after buying an additional 3,010 shares in the last quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management grew its stake in Pool by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management now owns 7,128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,430,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the fourth quarter worth $4,262,000. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pool by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on POOL shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Pool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Pool from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $368.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.00, for a total transaction of $3,460,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,577 shares in the company, valued at $21,651,642. This represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pool Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of POOL opened at $314.92 on Friday. Pool Co. has a one year low of $293.51 and a one year high of $403.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $340.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $353.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 2.05. The company has a market capitalization of $11.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $987.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $961.04 million. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pool Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Pool’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.55%.

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.