Royce & Associates LP Trims Stock Position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,027 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 11,758 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.51% of Hawkins worth $13,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Hawkins by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Hawkins by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 12,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Hawkins by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 7,747 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hawkins by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,791,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hawkins by 155.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Hawkins Stock Performance

Shares of HWKN stock opened at $106.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.55. Hawkins, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.20 and a 12-month high of $139.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Hawkins’s payout ratio is currently 18.37%.

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.