Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) Given New $18.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) had its target price hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on HAYW. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Hayward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.50 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Hayward in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Hayward Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HAYW opened at $14.47 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Hayward has a 1-year low of $11.96 and a 1-year high of $16.87. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.52, for a total value of $726,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 522,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,591,041.48. This represents a 8.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hayward

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HAYW. MSD Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $418,901,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in Hayward by 385.5% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 8,433,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,696,170 shares during the period. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation lifted its position in Hayward by 247.6% during the 4th quarter. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation now owns 8,984,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,400,000 shares during the period. BBR Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Hayward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,399,000. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI acquired a new stake in Hayward during 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.