William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes $30.40 Million Position in Hayward Holdings, Inc. $HAYW

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,010,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,402,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.93% of Hayward at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HAYW. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Hayward by 10,452.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Steph & Co. bought a new position in Hayward during the third quarter worth about $41,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hayward by 149.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Hayward by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Hayward in the 2nd quarter valued at about $151,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.50 target price (up from $19.00) on shares of Hayward in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research lowered Hayward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Hayward from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hayward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hayward news, CEO Kevin Holleran sold 52,389 shares of Hayward stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.05, for a total value of $840,843.45. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,540 shares in the company, valued at $10,007,817. The trade was a 7.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 165,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,655,570 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.06% of the company’s stock.

Hayward Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HAYW opened at $16.01 on Tuesday. Hayward Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.10 and a 1 year high of $17.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.92.

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

Hayward 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.