Helios Technologies (NASDAQ:HLIO) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Helios Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIO) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $36.71, but opened at $44.29. Helios Technologies shares last traded at $45.96, with a volume of 130,453 shares.

The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.09. Helios Technologies had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 4.57%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Helios Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Helios Technologies’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HLIO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Helios Technologies from $65.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Helios Technologies from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Helios Technologies from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,328,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,568,000 after buying an additional 13,059 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,438,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,227,000 after buying an additional 79,178 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 9.6% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 789,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,349,000 after buying an additional 68,990 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Helios Technologies by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 637,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,467,000 after buying an additional 5,684 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Helios Technologies in the second quarter worth about $21,036,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.72% of the company’s stock.

Helios Technologies Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 42.63 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.57.

About Helios Technologies

Helios Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered motion control and electronic control technology solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Hydraulics and Electronics. The Hydraulics segment offers cartridge valve technology products to control rates and direction of fluid flow, and to regulate and control pressures for industrial and mobile applications; hydraulic quick release coupling solutions for the agriculture, construction equipment, and industrial markets; motion control technology and fluid conveyance technology; cartridge valve technology; engineered solutions for machine users, manufacturers, or designers.