Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.8333.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Hayward from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised Hayward from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.50 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of Hayward in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Bank of America upgraded Hayward from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (down from $16.00) on shares of Hayward in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st.

Insider Transactions at Hayward

In other Hayward news, CFO Eifion Jones sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.57, for a total transaction of $218,550.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 316,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,605,577. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 52,390 shares of Hayward stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.99, for a total transaction of $837,716.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,970,404.60. This trade represents a 7.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 224,557 shares of company stock worth $3,424,249. 5.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hayward

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Hayward by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,683,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627,348 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Hayward by 327,101.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,565,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,564,479 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Hayward by 17,180.8% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,576,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561,826 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hayward in the third quarter valued at $37,846,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Hayward in the third quarter valued at $30,402,000.

Hayward Stock Performance

NYSE:HAYW opened at $13.38 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.61. Hayward has a twelve month low of $11.10 and a twelve month high of $17.73.

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

About Hayward

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.