Helios Technologies (NASDAQ:HLIO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Helios Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIO) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 109,320 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the previous session’s volume of 151,498 shares.The stock last traded at $45.07 and had previously closed at $46.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Helios Technologies from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Helios Technologies Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.64 and a 200 day moving average of $46.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 3.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73 and a beta of 0.88.

Helios Technologies (NASDAQ:HLIO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. Helios Technologies had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The firm had revenue of $194.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Helios Technologies, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Helios Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Helios Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.86%.

Insider Transactions at Helios Technologies

In other news, Director Diana Sacchi sold 615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.91, for a total transaction of $33,154.65. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,016.76. This trade represents a 14.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HLIO. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Helios Technologies by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,820,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,821,000 after buying an additional 428,110 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Helios Technologies by 4.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,284,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,333,000 after purchasing an additional 54,205 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in Helios Technologies in the second quarter valued at about $42,900,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Helios Technologies by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 773,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,909,000 after purchasing an additional 4,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Helios Technologies by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 752,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,904,000 after purchasing an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.72% of the company’s stock.

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.