Capital Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN

Key Points

• Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired 1,771 shares of Hawkins, Inc., valued at approximately $252,000, reflecting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Hawkins recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.18 to $0.19 per share, marking an annualized yield of 0.4%.
• The stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a price target averaging $162.50.

Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,771 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HWKN. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,448,000 after acquiring an additional 143,425 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 2nd quarter valued at $16,956,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 350,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $37,148,000 after acquiring an additional 95,885 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 157,110.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 94,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,991,000 after acquiring an additional 94,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 1st quarter valued at $5,271,000. 69.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawkins Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HWKN opened at $182.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $171.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 45.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.84. Hawkins, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.30 and a fifty-two week high of $185.50.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $293.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $278.76 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 18.35%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is a boost from Hawkins's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hawkins from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Hawkins in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. BWS Financial increased their price target on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $162.50.

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.

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