1,646 Shares in Hawkins, Inc. $HWKN Acquired by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hawkins by 31.5% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 599,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,448,000 after buying an additional 143,425 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Hawkins by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 478,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,981,000 after acquiring an additional 5,110 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Hawkins by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 473,752 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,320,000 after acquiring an additional 123,030 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,173 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,055,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hawkins by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 134,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $19,057,000 after acquiring an additional 39,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWKN opened at $129.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.82. Hawkins, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $98.30 and a fifty-two week high of $186.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $280.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $284.42 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 17.79%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hawkins, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HWKN. Zacks Research cut Hawkins from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hawkins in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Hawkins in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hawkins has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.50.

Insider Activity at Hawkins

In other news, VP Drew M. Grahek bought 1,587 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $126.34 per share, for a total transaction of $200,501.58. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president directly owned 39,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,008,117.60. This trade represents a 4.17% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.