Atala Financial Inc Buys Shares of 86 Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 86 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $152,249,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the 4th quarter worth approximately $116,833,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Pool by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,260,313 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $474,886,000 after acquiring an additional 232,914 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Pool in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,750,000. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pool by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 274,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $93,474,000 after acquiring an additional 69,435 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Pool Stock Up 2.0 %

POOL stock opened at $327.21 on Friday. Pool Co. has a 12 month low of $293.51 and a 12 month high of $420.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $355.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Pool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.55%.

Insider Activity

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

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.