Heartland Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW)

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 627,754 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,654 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned about 0.29% of Hayward worth $9,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Hayward by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 24,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 8,195 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Hayward during the fourth quarter worth $6,538,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hayward by 779.0% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,258,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,207,000 after buying an additional 1,115,089 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hayward by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,305,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,174,000 after buying an additional 3,589,352 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Hayward during the 4th quarter worth about $378,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Hayward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Hayward in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Hayward from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Hayward Stock Performance

Shares of HAYW opened at $13.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.16. Hayward Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.96 and a 12-month high of $16.87.

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $327.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $302.76 million. Hayward had a return on equity of 9.93% and a net margin of 9.47%. Equities research analysts forecast that Hayward Holdings, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hayward

In related news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.52, for a total transaction of $726,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 522,799 shares in the company, valued at $7,591,041.48. This represents a 8.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Hayward

Hayward Holdings, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets a portfolio of pool equipment and associated automation systems in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers pool equipment, including pumps, filters, robotics, suction and pressure cleaners, gas heaters and heat pumps, water features and landscape lighting, water sanitizers, salt chlorine generators, safety equipment, and in-floor automated cleaning systems, as well as LED illumination solutions.