Rhumbline Advisers Reduces Position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) by 14.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,159 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 8,896 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.24% of Hawkins worth $5,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the fourth quarter valued at $42,466,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,087,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Hawkins by 900.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 82,576 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $10,166,000 after purchasing an additional 74,320 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Hawkins by 291.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 86,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $10,562,000 after purchasing an additional 64,110 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Hawkins by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $18,353,000 after purchasing an additional 57,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HWKN. CJS Securities began coverage on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. BWS Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th.

Hawkins Price Performance

Hawkins stock traded up $2.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $135.77. 205,130 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 125,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.50. Hawkins, Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.56 and a 52 week high of $139.55. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 34.64, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.85. The company's fifty day moving average is $123.96 and its 200-day moving average is $118.43.

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

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Hawkins's payout ratio is currently 17.82%.

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.