Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 98,825 Shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Hayward Holdings, Inc. by 15.7%, selling 98,825 shares and now holding a total of 528,929 shares valued at approximately $7.36 million.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, have significantly increased their stakes in Hayward Holdings, showcasing a mixed sentiment among large investors.
• Analysts have downgraded Hayward's stock rating from "outperform" to "peer perform," with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $17.13.

Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 528,929 shares of the company's stock after selling 98,825 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.24% of Hayward worth $7,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hayward by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hayward by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 326,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,546,000 after purchasing an additional 31,384 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its stake in shares of Hayward by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 37,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 5,400 shares during the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hayward by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 444,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,185,000 after purchasing an additional 58,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward in the 1st quarter valued at $283,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Hayward from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 60,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.20, for a total transaction of $860,108.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,854,268. This represents a 8.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hayward Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of HAYW stock traded up $0.44 on Wednesday, hitting $15.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,712,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,833,892. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Hayward Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.10 and a fifty-two week high of $16.87. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $14.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.12.

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.02. Hayward had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $299.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $291.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Hayward Holdings, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

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.