Short Interest in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Rises By 6.7%

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

Institutional Trading of Hawkins

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Hawkins by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,035 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Hawkins by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 12,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. 69.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hawkins Stock Performance

Shares of HWKN stock opened at $110.39 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.82. Hawkins has a one year low of $66.90 and a one year high of $139.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.64.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.05). Hawkins had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 8.60%. Equities analysts anticipate that Hawkins will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is 18.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.