Strs Ohio Takes Position in Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN

Key Points

• Strs Ohio invested $816,000 in Hawkins, Inc. during the first quarter, acquiring 7,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company.
• Hawkins recently reported $1.40 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.33, and announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.19, with a 0.4% dividend yield.
• Despite a recent downgrade to a "hold" rating, equity analysts maintain a consensus "buy" rating for Hawkins, with a price target increase to $200.00 from BWS Financial.

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HWKN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hawkins by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $10,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,365 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Hawkins by 157,110.0% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 94,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $9,991,000 after buying an additional 94,266 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 111.1% in the first quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,289 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $984,000 after acquiring an additional 4,888 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 2.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 45,599 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $4,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Hawkins during the first quarter valued at $244,000. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hawkins Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN traded up $1.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $174.10. 3,338 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 152,332. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.88, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.37. Hawkins, Inc. has a twelve month low of $98.30 and a twelve month 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 firm 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, equities analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Hawkins's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio is 18.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HWKN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Hawkins to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, BWS Financial increased their price objective on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hawkins has an average rating of "Buy" and an average 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.