King Luther Capital Management Corp Acquires 5,892 Shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Hawkins, Inc. by 6.6%, owning approximately 0.46% of the company, valued at around $10.1 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Hawkins, Inc. announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.19 per share, set to be paid on August 29th, up from the previous $0.18.
• Despite positive earnings results from Hawkins, several analysts downgraded the stock, with Wall Street Zen changing its rating from "buy" to "hold."

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned approximately 0.46% of Hawkins worth $10,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in 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 period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 37.6% during 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 buying an additional 95,885 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hawkins during the fourth quarter worth $42,466,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 16.1% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.2% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 220,327 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $23,337,000 after buying an additional 6,832 shares during the period. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HWKN shares. BWS Financial increased their price objective on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th.

Hawkins Stock Performance

NASDAQ HWKN traded down $5.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $178.81. 319,665 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 214,144. Hawkins, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.30 and a 1 year high of $185.50. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $153.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Hawkins's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio is 18.72%.

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.