Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Hawkins were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 5.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 755,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,367,000 after purchasing an additional 38,877 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 523,514 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,743,000 after purchasing an additional 18,119 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 20.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 256,245 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,663,000 after purchasing an additional 44,351 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 487.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 254,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,260,000 after purchasing an additional 211,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 3.3% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 117,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $15,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,775 shares during the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawkins Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN opened at $104.99 on Friday. Hawkins, Inc. has a one year low of $68.43 and a one year high of $139.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.82.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.05). Hawkins had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 18.95%. As a group, analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Hawkins’s payout ratio is currently 18.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BWS Financial restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

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.