Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Shares Up 8.2% – What’s Next?

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) shot up 8.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $124.39 and last traded at $124.24. 86,751 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 123,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on HWKN. CJS Securities began coverage on Hawkins in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. BWS Financial upgraded Hawkins from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday.

Hawkins Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.92 and a 200-day moving average of $117.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.82.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.05). Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 8.60%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is presently 18.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hawkins in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Hawkins by 155.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Hawkins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Hawkins by 262.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 442 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

About Hawkins

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.