Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Purchases 95,885 Shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) by 37.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 350,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,885 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 1.68% of Hawkins worth $37,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HWKN. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in Hawkins in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,466,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 235,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,839,000 after acquiring an additional 32,670 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Hawkins by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $18,353,000 after purchasing an additional 57,179 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at $13,087,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of HWKN stock opened at $135.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Hawkins, Inc. has a 12-month low of $85.38 and a 12-month high of $139.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $124.60 and a 200-day moving average of $118.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.85.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $245.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $230.69 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 8.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is 17.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on HWKN. BWS Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, May 15th. CJS Securities began coverage on Hawkins in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th.

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.