Harvest Investment Services LLC Acquires Shares of 6,661 Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,661 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $817,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in Hawkins during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,466,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Hawkins by 487.7% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 254,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $31,260,000 after acquiring an additional 211,472 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Hawkins by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $18,353,000 after buying an additional 57,179 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,087,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Hawkins by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $12,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BWS Financial raised shares of Hawkins from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. CJS Securities began coverage on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

HWKN traded down $1.10 on Monday, hitting $123.41. 62,721 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 129,987. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.53. Hawkins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.98 and a 12 month high of $139.55.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.05). Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 8.60%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Hawkins's payout ratio is currently 18.37%.

Hawkins Company 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.