Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Helios Technologies, Inc $HLIO

Key Points

• Deprince Race & Zollo reduced its position by 72.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 613,233 shares and retaining 233,025 shares worth about $12.47 million (approximately 0.70% of Helios).
• Helios beat estimates with quarterly EPS of $0.81 (vs. $0.72 expected) and revenue of $210.7M, up 17.4% year-over-year, and announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.12 from $0.09.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive — a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $71.75 — as firms like KeyCorp raised their target to $82 and Wall Street Zen upgraded to "Strong‑Buy"; institutional ownership is about 94.7%.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. reduced its position in shares of Helios Technologies, Inc (NYSE:HLIO - Free Report) by 72.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,025 shares of the company's stock after selling 613,233 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.70% of Helios Technologies worth $12,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aberdeen Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Helios Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $13,681,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Helios Technologies during the third quarter worth about $1,334,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 7.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,530,525 shares of the company's stock worth $79,787,000 after purchasing an additional 112,213 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Helios Technologies during the third quarter worth about $3,063,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 146.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 126,157 shares of the company's stock worth $4,210,000 after purchasing an additional 75,042 shares during the period. 94.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HLIO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Helios Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Helios Technologies in a report on Monday, December 29th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Helios Technologies from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Helios Technologies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Helios Technologies from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Helios Technologies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.75.

Helios Technologies Price Performance

HLIO stock opened at $71.14 on Tuesday. Helios Technologies, Inc has a 1 year low of $25.12 and a 1 year high of $76.47. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.06 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.26 and a 200 day moving average of $60.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.90 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Helios Technologies (NYSE:HLIO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.09. Helios Technologies had a net margin of 5.78% and a return on equity of 9.36%. The company had revenue of $210.70 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Helios Technologies's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Helios Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a positive change from Helios Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 13th. Helios Technologies's payout ratio is 33.10%.

Helios Technologies Profile

Helios Technologies, Inc develops and manufactures engineered motion control and electronic control products for a wide range of industrial and mobile equipment applications. The company's Hydraulics segment designs and produces hydraulic cartridge valves, manifold systems, pumps and motors, filtration solutions and off-highway joysticks. Its Electronic Controls segment offers programmable electronic control units, wireless telematics, human-machine interfaces and software to optimize performance, efficiency and safety for equipment OEMs and end users.

Through its global network of manufacturing facilities, service centers and technology centers, Helios Technologies serves markets in agriculture, construction, material handling, mining, municipal and recreational vehicles, as well as industrial automation and infrastructure equipment.

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