Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN Shares Sold by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 384,604 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 214,411 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Hawkins were worth $54,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Hawkins by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 473,752 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,320,000 after buying an additional 123,030 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in Hawkins during the second quarter worth about $16,956,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Hawkins in the first quarter worth about $5,271,000. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Hawkins by 294.0% in the 2nd quarter. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd now owns 59,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,398,000 after acquiring an additional 44,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hawkins by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 134,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $19,057,000 after purchasing an additional 39,790 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hawkins

In other Hawkins news, VP Drew M. Grahek bought 1,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $200,501.58. Following the acquisition, the vice president directly owned 39,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,008,117.60. This trade represents a 4.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HWKN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Hawkins in a report on Thursday, July 24th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hawkins in a report on Tuesday. BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Hawkins from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.50.

Hawkins Trading Down 1.0%

Hawkins stock opened at $126.53 on Friday. Hawkins, Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.30 and a 52 week high of $186.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $162.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.04.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.16). Hawkins had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 17.79%. The business had revenue of $280.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $284.42 million. Research analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Hawkins’s payout ratio is 19.10%.

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.