Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 720,300 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the February 29th total of 623,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 140,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.1 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th.

Institutional Trading of Hawkins

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 0.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 24,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 0.8% in the second quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 27,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,766 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 0.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 52,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 4.9% in the second quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,077 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HWKN opened at $74.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $69.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Hawkins has a 12 month low of $39.20 and a 12 month high of $77.90.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.24 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 19.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hawkins will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

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.