Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Invests $939,000 in Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 69,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Numerai GP LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward during the third quarter worth approximately $146,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward during the third quarter worth approximately $161,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hayward during the fourth quarter worth approximately $173,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Hayward in the third quarter worth $195,000.

Insider Activity at Hayward

In related news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 42,857 shares of Hayward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $571,712.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 522,799 shares in the company, valued at $6,974,138.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hayward Stock Performance

Shares of HAYW opened at $13.77 on Monday. Hayward Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.80 and a 1 year high of $16.04. The company has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.25 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a current ratio of 3.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $14.07 and a 200-day moving average of $12.99.

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.02. Hayward had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 9.55%. The company had revenue of $278.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $271.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hayward Holdings, Inc. will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on HAYW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Hayward from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Hayward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Hayward from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Hayward from $13.50 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hayward presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.70.

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.