Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $138.86 and last traded at $137.53, with a volume of 7720 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $137.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hawkins Trading Down 0.6 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $125.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.78. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.27.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $247.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $259.59 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 8.74%. As a group, analysts expect that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is currently 18.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWKN. Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 1.2% in the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 7,560 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Hawkins by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,571 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC now owns 2,629 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Hawkins by 71.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in Hawkins by 2.1% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is 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.