Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Hawkins, Inc. experienced a significant increase in trading volume on Monday, with approximately 252,319 shares traded, which is a 75% increase from the previous session.
• Analysts have revised their ratings on Hawkins, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock from a "buy" to a "hold," while BWS Financial reissued a "buy" rating with a target price of $160.00.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.45% and a payout ratio of 17.82%.

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday . 252,319 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 75% from the previous session's volume of 144,113 shares.The stock last traded at $157.36 and had previously closed at $158.39.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on HWKN. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, BWS Financial boosted their price objective on Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday.

Hawkins Trading Down 2.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.85.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.07. Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.66% and a net margin of 8.37%. The business had revenue of $293.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $278.76 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This is a boost from Hawkins's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Hawkins's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in Hawkins by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,448,000 after purchasing an additional 143,425 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Hawkins by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 473,752 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $67,320,000 after purchasing an additional 123,030 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at $42,466,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 235,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,839,000 after acquiring an additional 32,670 shares during the period. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 220,327 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $23,337,000 after acquiring an additional 6,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.