10,968 Shares in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 10,968 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,133,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of POOL. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in Pool by 8.9% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 5,132 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new stake in Pool during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $356,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Pool by 1.8% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 8,435 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,178,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Pool by 3.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 42,735 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $16,102,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RiverPark Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pool by 3.1% in the third quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on POOL. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on 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 shares of Pool from $365.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Pool from $330.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Pool from $380.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Pool from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $369.11.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ POOL opened at $360.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $365.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.01. Pool Co. has a 52-week low of $293.51 and a 52-week high of $422.73.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The specialty retailer reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.11. Pool had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 31.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. Pool’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pool Co. will post 11 earnings per share for the current year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Pool’s payout ratio is 41.31%.

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.