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

Shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $130.44 and last traded at $130.29, with a volume of 94945 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $127.31.

Hawkins Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $120.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.74.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $255.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $254.30 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 20.16% and a net margin of 8.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWKN. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Hawkins by 71.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hawkins in the third quarter valued at $100,000. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Hawkins by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 2,342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the 1st quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Hawkins during the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

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.