New York State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Holdings in Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Hawkins, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWKN) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,880 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,053 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of Hawkins worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Hawkins in the fourth quarter worth $3,402,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hawkins by 200.3% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 21,929 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 14,626 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Hawkins in the third quarter worth $557,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Hawkins in the third quarter worth $638,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Hawkins by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 233,193 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,396 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.71% of the company’s stock.

Hawkins Price Performance

Shares of Hawkins stock opened at $74.74 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.55. Hawkins, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.20 and a 52 week high of $79.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Hawkins (NASDAQ:HWKN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $221.24 million. Hawkins had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 7.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hawkins, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hawkins Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.