Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $7.44 Million Stock Position in Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL - Free Report) by 113.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,810 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 11,580 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.06% of Pool worth $7,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Pool by 8.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 296,063 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $90,992,000 after purchasing an additional 23,396 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Pool by 7.4% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,217 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Pool by 9.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,944 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $883,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Pool by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 105,709 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $32,487,000 after buying an additional 23,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Pool during the 2nd quarter worth about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

POOL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Pool from $380.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Pool from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Pool from $345.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Pool from $377.00 to $408.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Pool from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pool presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $369.25.

Pool Stock Performance

POOL traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $350.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 329,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,826. The company's 50-day moving average is $355.98 and its 200-day moving average is $354.24. Pool Co. has a 52 week low of $293.51 and a 52 week high of $422.73. The firm has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL - Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Pool had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 31.89%. The company's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pool Co. will post 11.03 EPS for the current year.

Pool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Pool's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.31%.

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.