Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Short Interest Update

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 395,200 shares, a drop of 10.7% from the September 15th total of 442,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 131,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawkins

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 56,330 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hawkins in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,504,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position 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 worth $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 6,627 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $106,807,000 after acquiring an additional 62,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Hawkins by 21.6% during 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 period. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawkins Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HWKN traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $134.42. 64,220 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 128,019. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.27. Hawkins has a 52-week low of $53.64 and a 52-week high of $135.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.36.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.37. Hawkins had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 8.75%. The company had revenue of $255.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $254.30 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hawkins will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

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

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.