Bank of America Upgrades Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) to “Buy”

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) was upgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $19.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 27.95% from the company’s current price.

HAYW has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.50 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Hayward in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Hayward from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Hayward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $19.25.

Hayward Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of HAYW opened at $14.85 on Friday. Hayward has a 1-year low of $11.10 and a 1-year high of $17.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.94 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.90.

Hayward (NYSE:HAYW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $349.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $332.84 million. Hayward had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Hayward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.820-0.860 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hayward will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hayward news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 52,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.73, for a total transaction of $824,078.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 748,540 shares in the company, valued at $11,774,534.20. This represents a 6.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 157,168 shares of company stock valued at $2,502,639 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hayward

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Hayward by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 956,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,460,000 after acquiring an additional 250,214 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Hayward in the second quarter valued at approximately $330,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Hayward by 14.2% in the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 595,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,999,000 after purchasing an additional 73,900 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Hayward by 23.5% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 441,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 84,067 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hayward by 3.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,650,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,549,000 after purchasing an additional 211,075 shares during the last quarter.

Hayward Company Profile

Hayward Holdings, Inc is a leading manufacturer and marketer of residential and commercial swimming pool equipment and related outdoor living products. The company designs, engineers and produces a comprehensive range of products that address water circulation, filtration, heating, sanitation, automation, lighting and cleaning needs for pools and spas. Hayward’s offerings include pumps, filters, heaters, salt and chemical sanitization systems, automation controls, lights, robotic cleaners and various accessories that serve both new pool construction and aftermarket renovation markets.

Hayward’s product portfolio is organized into several core categories.