Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on HWKN. BWS Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, May 15th. CJS Securities began coverage on Hawkins in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of HWKN stock traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $152.50. 202,971 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 131,801. Hawkins has a fifty-two week low of $89.62 and a fifty-two week high of $155.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $132.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.75.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Hawkins had a net margin of 8.66% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $245.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $230.69 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hawkins will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.82%.

Institutional Trading of Hawkins

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 533.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 266 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Hawkins by 118.8% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 280 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Hawkins during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Hawkins in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 1st quarter worth $52,000. 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.