Ethic Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,424 Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN

Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,424 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HWKN. SkyOak Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. SkyOak Wealth LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Hawkins by 3.7% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,976 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its position in Hawkins by 5.7% during the second quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Stock Down 5.8%

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN opened at $141.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Hawkins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $98.30 and a 12 month high of $186.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $170.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.63.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.16). Hawkins had a return on equity of 17.79% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $280.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $284.42 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is currently 19.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HWKN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Hawkins in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hawkins from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, BWS Financial increased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.