Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases Shares of 491 Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN

Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 491 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Hawkins in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 118.8% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 280 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 20.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 101.3% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 40.0% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 661 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawkins Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:HWKN opened at $168.69 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $163.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.26. Hawkins, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.30 and a 1 year high of $185.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.86.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $293.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.76 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 8.37%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HWKN shares. BWS Financial upped their target price on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hawkins to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hawkins currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.50.

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.