Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) by 157,110.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 94,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 94,266 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.45% of Hawkins worth $9,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake 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 worth $37,148,000 after purchasing an additional 95,885 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in Hawkins in the 4th quarter worth $42,466,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Hawkins by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 235,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,839,000 after buying an additional 32,670 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Hawkins by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $18,353,000 after buying an additional 57,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Hawkins during the fourth quarter valued at about $13,087,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HWKN. BWS Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. CJS Securities initiated coverage on Hawkins in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hawkins from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st.

Hawkins Price Performance

NASDAQ HWKN traded down $1.85 on Monday, reaching $142.10. The company had a trading volume of 160,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 129,039. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.85. Hawkins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.24 and a 12 month high of $144.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $129.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.58.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $230.69 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 8.66%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.82%.

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.