Cerity Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 100,727 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $7,093,000. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.48% of Hawkins at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HWKN. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 3.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 249,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $11,474,000 after acquiring an additional 9,114 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 13.9% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 16,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,032 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 65.0% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,766 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 3,846 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 11.8% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,687 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Hawkins by 3.0% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 50,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hawkins Price Performance

Hawkins stock traded down $1.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $76.07. 128,261 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 143,275. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Hawkins, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.20 and a twelve month high of $79.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.50.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.24 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 19.54%. Equities analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Hawkins's payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hawkins from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th.

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.