Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM) Stock Falls 6.6% on Analyst Downgrade

Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM)’s share price fell 6.6% during trading on Thursday after William Blair downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a market perform rating. The stock traded as low as $5.79 and last traded at $5.95. Approximately 166,750 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 852,523 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.37.

SWIM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised Latham Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research raised Latham Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Latham Group from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $7.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Latham Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Latham Group by 24.0% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,364,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,201,843 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Latham Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $23,532,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Latham Group by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,370,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,096,000 after purchasing an additional 470,123 shares during the period. Formula Growth Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Latham Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,897,000. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC lifted its position in Latham Group by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 1,006,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,406,000 after buying an additional 31,091 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.95% of the company’s stock.

Latham Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $699.55 million, a P/E ratio of 118.70, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $197.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.39 million. Latham Group had a net margin of 0.92% and a return on equity of 1.31%. Analysts forecast that Latham Group, Inc. will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Latham Group Company Profile

Latham Group, Inc is a manufacturer and marketer of residential swimming pool products. The company focuses primarily on the in-ground pool market and supplies products used in the construction, renovation and maintenance of swimming pools.

Its product portfolio includes fiberglass pool shells, vinyl pool liners, automatic safety covers and related pool components and accessories. Latham sells its products through a network of dealers, builders and distributors, serving both new pool construction and replacement and remodeling demand.

The company serves customers primarily in North America, with operations and sales activities in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.