OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC Acquires New Position in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL)

OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 704 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Pool by 907.2% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,399 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $12,768,000 after purchasing an additional 33,686 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Pool by 3.1% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 8,076 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,571,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Pool by 12.7% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. MFG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Pool in the first quarter worth approximately $921,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in Pool by 2.1% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 117,083 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $37,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the period. 98.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 target price on Pool in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Pool from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Pool from $322.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pool from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on Pool from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $342.14.

Pool Price Performance

POOL opened at $330.73 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $303.28 and a 200-day moving average of $315.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.51, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 1.07. Pool Corporation has a 12-month low of $282.22 and a 12-month high of $395.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The specialty retailer reported $5.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.79 billion. Pool had a return on equity of 30.99% and a net margin of 7.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Pool Corporation will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Pool’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.13%.

Pool announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.