Short Interest in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Declines By 5.9%

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 552,700 shares, a drop of 5.9% from the July 15th total of 587,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 129,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hawkins Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HWKN stock opened at $118.74 on Wednesday. Hawkins has a 12-month low of $53.64 and a 12-month high of $123.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.51 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Hawkins Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Hawkins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Hawkins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hawkins news, Director James A. Faulconbridge acquired 1,800 shares of Hawkins stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $87.56 per share, with a total value of $157,608.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 40,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,547,668.52. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Hawkins news, Director James A. Faulconbridge acquired 1,800 shares of Hawkins stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $87.56 per share, with a total value of $157,608.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 40,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,547,668.52. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James A. Faulconbridge acquired 1,300 shares of Hawkins stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $86.50 per share, with a total value of $112,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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. Insiders have purchased 5,100 shares of company stock worth $442,998 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $108,000. AXS Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $179,000. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in Hawkins by 36.9% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 2,342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. 69.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, BWS Financial raised their price objective on shares of Hawkins from $74.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th.

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.