Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 720,300 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the February 29th total of 623,100 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 140,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Hawkins Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HWKN opened at $74.62 on Tuesday. Hawkins has a 52-week low of $39.20 and a 52-week high of $77.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.15.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $221.24 million. Hawkins had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 19.54%. Equities analysts predict that Hawkins will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Hawkins Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Hawkins’s payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hawkins

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AJOVista LLC purchased a new stake in Hawkins in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hawkins in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Hawkins by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,566 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Hawkins in the 4th quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Hawkins by 17.2% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Hawkins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th.

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.