Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Buys Shares of 410,213 Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 410,213 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $31,504,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 1.96% of Hawkins at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HWKN. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 28.1% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 11,934 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 2,618 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 21.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 43,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 7,683 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 7,343.9% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 22,555 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 22,252 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 1.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 52,985 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,070,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hawkins by 33.8% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 22,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 5,783 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial lifted their price target on Hawkins from $74.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 17th.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of Hawkins stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $121.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 215,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 151,948. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Hawkins, Inc. has a one year low of $48.78 and a one year high of $122.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.51 and a beta of 0.72.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $223.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $217.49 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 20.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hawkins, Inc. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Hawkins's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Hawkins's payout ratio is currently 17.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James A. Faulconbridge acquired 1,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $86.50 per share, with a total value of $112,450.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 38,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,297,120.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director James A. Faulconbridge bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $86.47 per share, for a total transaction of $172,940.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 44,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,806,149.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James A. Faulconbridge acquired 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $86.50 per share, with a total value of $112,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,297,120.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 5,100 shares of company stock valued at $442,998. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.