Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) Shares Down 5.6% Following Weak Earnings

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 5.6% during trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as low as $111.13 and last traded at $109.59. 31,160 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 139,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.11.

The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share 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%.

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 given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Hawkins's payout ratio is 18.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $122.00 target price on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Friday.

Institutional Trading of Hawkins

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Hawkins by 487.7% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 254,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $31,260,000 after acquiring an additional 211,472 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Hawkins by 20.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 256,245 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $32,663,000 after purchasing an additional 44,351 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Hawkins by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 755,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $96,367,000 after purchasing an additional 38,877 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new stake in Hawkins during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,016,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Hawkins by 127.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 47,432 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $6,046,000 after buying an additional 26,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Hawkins Trading Up 5.3 %

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 company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $123.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.19.

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.