Helios Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIO) Shares Sold by Sapience Investments LLC

Sapience Investments LLC lowered its stake in Helios Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIO) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,447 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,490 shares during the quarter. Sapience Investments LLC’s holdings in Helios Technologies were worth $1,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Helios Technologies by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,328,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,568,000 after purchasing an additional 13,059 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Helios Technologies by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,986,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,679,000 after purchasing an additional 266,127 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Helios Technologies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,841,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,219,000 after buying an additional 21,683 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Helios Technologies by 5.8% during 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. Finally, Sara Bay Financial increased its position in Helios Technologies by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Sara Bay Financial now owns 1,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,080,000 after buying an additional 247,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.72% of the company’s stock.

Helios Technologies Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:HLIO opened at $32.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.54. Helios Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.76 and a 12-month high of $57.29.

Helios Technologies (NASDAQ:HLIO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.08. Helios Technologies had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 4.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Helios Technologies, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Helios Technologies announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Helios Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. Helios Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on HLIO shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Helios Technologies from $65.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Helios Technologies from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Helios Technologies Company Profile

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.