Short Interest in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Decreases By 31.3%

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hawkins Stock Down 1.1 %

HWKN opened at $106.79 on Tuesday. Hawkins has a twelve month low of $71.20 and a twelve month high of $139.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $110.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.55. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.77.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 18.95%. Sell-side analysts expect that Hawkins will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Hawkins

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

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.