Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.20

Pool Co. (NASDAQ:POOL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 1.20 per share by the specialty retailer on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%.

Pool has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.4% annually 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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

NASDAQ POOL opened at $347.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $343.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $355.57. The firm has a market cap of $13.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.03. Pool has a 12-month low of $293.51 and a 12-month high of $422.73.

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $0.97 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $961.04 million. Pool had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 31.11%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pool will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pool from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Pool from $370.00 to $360.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pool presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $368.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pool news, Director De La Mesa Manuel J. Perez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now owns 62,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,651,642. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.