Hawkins' (HWKN) Buy (B-) Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Hawkins' stock was reaffirmed with a "buy (B-)" rating by Weiss Ratings, despite mixed analyst opinions with some downgrading to "hold."
• The company reported earnings per share of $1.40 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.33.
• Institutional investors own 69.71% of Hawkins' stock, with significant increases in holdings from several hedge funds recently.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b-)" rating reissued by stock analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Tuesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hawkins from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. BWS Financial lifted their target price on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hawkins has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $162.50.

Hawkins Stock Performance

NASDAQ HWKN traded down $1.85 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $172.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 89,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 149,739. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.84. Hawkins has a twelve month low of $98.30 and a twelve month high of $186.15. The business's fifty day moving average price is $173.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.70.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $293.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.76 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 8.37% and a return on equity of 18.35%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hawkins will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in Hawkins by 31.5% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,448,000 after purchasing an additional 143,425 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Hawkins by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 478,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $67,981,000 after purchasing an additional 5,110 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Hawkins by 35.1% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 473,752 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $67,320,000 after purchasing an additional 123,030 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Hawkins by 50.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 282,349 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $40,122,000 after purchasing an additional 94,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.71% of the company's stock.

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.

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