Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Downgraded by BWS Financial to Neutral

BWS Financial downgraded shares of Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $122.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Hawkins Stock Performance

HWKN stock opened at $134.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 37.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $122.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.36. Hawkins has a fifty-two week low of $53.64 and a fifty-two week high of $135.59.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.37. Hawkins had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 8.75%. The firm had revenue of $255.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $254.30 million. Analysts forecast that Hawkins will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Hawkins by 116.9% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 104,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,049,000 after purchasing an additional 56,330 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hawkins in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,504,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in Hawkins by 83.9% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 14,521 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 6,627 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hawkins by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,516,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $106,807,000 after buying an additional 62,224 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Hawkins by 21.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 43,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after buying an additional 7,683 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hawkins Company 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.