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

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 573,200 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the January 15th total of 537,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 139,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price on shares of Hawkins in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawkins

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWKN. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,466,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Hawkins by 487.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 254,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,260,000 after buying an additional 211,472 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Hawkins in the fourth quarter worth $13,087,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Hawkins by 900.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 82,576 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,166,000 after buying an additional 74,320 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Hawkins by 291.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 86,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,562,000 after acquiring an additional 64,110 shares during the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $111.60. 75,759 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 161,428. The company’s 50 day moving average is $117.78 and its 200 day moving average is $121.57. Hawkins has a one year low of $67.52 and a one year high of $139.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.82.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 18.95%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hawkins will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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.