Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $133.54 and last traded at $133.37, with a volume of 58418 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $129.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BWS Financial lowered Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday.

Hawkins Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $255.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $254.30 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 8.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid 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 payout ratio is 20.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawkins

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

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.