Pool Co. (POOL) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 12th

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of 1.20 per share by the specialty retailer on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th.

Pool has increased its dividend by an average of 16.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Pool has a dividend payout ratio of 38.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Pool to earn $12.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

Pool Stock Performance

Shares of POOL opened at $364.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $343.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $355.71. Pool has a 12-month low of $293.51 and a 12-month high of $422.73.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $987.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $961.04 million. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. As a group, research analysts predict that Pool will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pool news, Director De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $3,460,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,577 shares in the company, valued at $21,651,642. The trade was a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.