Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $185.50 and last traded at $184.19, with a volume of 18364 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $181.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HWKN. Zacks Research downgraded Hawkins from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hawkins in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, BWS Financial upped their price objective on Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.50.

Hawkins Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $171.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.56.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $293.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.76 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 8.37%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is a positive change from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawkins

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 0.4% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 21,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. SkyOak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 3.8% during the first quarter. SkyOak Wealth LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 20.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 3.7% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,976 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 4.0% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,019 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawkins Company Profile

Hawkins, Inc operates as a specialty chemical and ingredients company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries.