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

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 645,100 shares, a drop of 31.3% from the February 13th total of 939,000 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 136,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 8,633.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 262 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hawkins in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 155.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Hawkins by 262.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 442 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

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 report on Friday, January 31st.

Hawkins Trading Down 1.1 %

HWKN stock traded down $1.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $106.79. 81,498 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 120,555. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.77. Hawkins has a 1 year low of $71.20 and a 1 year high of $139.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $110.16 and a 200-day moving average of $119.55.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last announced 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 return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 8.60%. Analysts predict that Hawkins will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

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

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.