PEREZ DE LA MESA MANUEL J 4

What Happened
Manuel J. Perez de la Mesa, a director of POOL CORP (POOL), exercised stock options on 2026-02-24 to acquire 30,000 shares at a strike price of $80.78 (cash paid: $2,423,400). To cover taxes/withholding, 17,925 of the resulting shares were surrendered/disposed at $217.26 per share (proceeds: $3,894,386). The filing also records the conversion/cancellation of the derivative options associated with the exercise. Net result: a gain of 12,075 shares retained by the insider (30,000 acquired − 17,925 withheld), worth roughly $2.6M at the reported market price.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-02-24; Form filed 2026-02-26 (timely filing).
• Option exercise: 30,000 shares at $80.78 per share; total exercise cost $2,423,400 (code M).
• Tax/withholding disposition: 17,925 shares disposed at $217.26 per share; proceeds $3,894,386 (code F).
• A separate line records the derivative conversion/cancellation for 30,000 option shares (disposed @ $0 — reflects conversion of the option).
• Net share change from these transactions: +12,075 shares (filing does not state total shares owned after transaction).
• Footnote: the option vests 50% three years from grant and the remaining 50% five years from grant.
• This appears to be a typical cashless/net-share settlement to cover tax and/or exercise obligations, not an open-market sale.

Context
Exercising vested options is common for insiders to convert compensation into stock. The withholding of 17,925 shares to cover taxes and/or exercise costs is a routine administrative step and does not necessarily indicate a deliberate market-timing sell. Retail investors often view net purchases (here, a net increase of 12,075 shares) as modestly bullish, but this filing primarily documents compensation exercise and tax settlement rather than an opportunistic buy or sell.