Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) Stock Price

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) had its target price boosted by Robert W. Baird from $17.00 to $18.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price indicates a potential upside of 22.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Hayward in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Hayward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Hayward Stock Performance

Shares of Hayward stock opened at $14.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.16. Hayward has a 1 year low of $11.96 and a 1 year high of $16.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 522,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,591,041.48. This trade represents a 8.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hayward

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HAYW. MSD Capital L P acquired a new position in Hayward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $418,901,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in Hayward by 385.5% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 8,433,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,696,170 shares during the period. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation boosted its stake in Hayward by 247.6% in the 4th quarter. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation now owns 8,984,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,400,000 shares during the period. BBR Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hayward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,399,000. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI acquired a new position in Hayward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,949,000.

Hayward Company Profile

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.