Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN Shares Sold by Deutsche Bank AG

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG reduced its stake in Hawkins, Inc. by 8.9%, selling 1,583 shares, which brings its total holdings to 16,173 shares valued at $1,713,000.
• Analysts have varying ratings on Hawkins, with Zacks Research upgrading it to a "strong-buy" and Wall Street Zen downgrading it to "hold," while the consensus remains a "buy" with an average price target of $162.50.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.18 to $0.19 per share, reflecting a positive outlook as it continues to maintain a payout ratio of 18.72%.

Deutsche Bank AG lessened its stake in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,173 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 1,583 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.08% of Hawkins worth $1,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HWKN. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 31.5% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,448,000 after purchasing an additional 143,425 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 37.6% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 95,885 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 157,110.0% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 94,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,991,000 after purchasing an additional 94,266 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 291.5% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 86,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $10,562,000 after purchasing an additional 64,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 12,653.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 56,244 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $59,570,000 after purchasing an additional 55,803 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Hawkins Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $171.50. The stock had a trading volume of 11,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,873. Hawkins, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.30 and a fifty-two week high of $185.50. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $159.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.62. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.24, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. Hawkins's payout ratio is presently 18.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. BWS Financial increased their price target on Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Hawkins to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hawkins has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $162.50.

Hawkins 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.