Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Sells 348 Shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 348 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC’s holdings in Pool were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pool by 1.6% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,102,921 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $646,291,000 after purchasing an additional 33,955 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in shares of Pool by 1.3% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 854,709 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $262,678,000 after purchasing an additional 11,059 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Pool by 9.6% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 525,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $211,839,000 after purchasing an additional 45,953 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Pool by 26.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 433,166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $133,125,000 after purchasing an additional 90,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 37,598 shares during the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on POOL. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Pool from $377.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Pool from $365.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised Pool from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Pool from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Pool from $330.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pool presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.89.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of POOL stock opened at $377.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $359.31 and a 200 day moving average of $353.61. Pool Co. has a 52 week low of $293.51 and a 52 week high of $422.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty retailer reported $4.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.90 by $0.09. Pool had a return on equity of 32.85% and a net margin of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Pool Co. will post 10.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Pool Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Pool’s payout ratio is 40.47%.

About Pool

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.