Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 9,124 Shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,852 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 9,124 shares during the quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.17% of Hawkins worth $4,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at $42,466,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 487.7% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 254,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $31,260,000 after purchasing an additional 211,472 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $18,353,000 after purchasing an additional 57,179 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at $13,087,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $124.50. 111,616 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 123,172. 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 twelve month low of $71.98 and a twelve month high of $139.55. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.43.

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

Hawkins Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HWKN. BWS Financial raised Hawkins from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. CJS Securities assumed coverage on Hawkins in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "market outperform" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the 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.