Strs Ohio Invests $816,000 in Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. SkyOak Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.8% during the first quarter. SkyOak Wealth LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 20.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.7% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,976 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,035 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Stock Performance

HWKN opened at $173.74 on Friday. Hawkins, Inc. has a 52-week low of $98.30 and a 52-week high of $185.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $168.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.38.

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

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HWKN shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. BWS Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Hawkins from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hawkins to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.50.

Hawkins Profile

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.