Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.56.

A number of analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. Mizuho cut their target price on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut their target price on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson raised Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In related news, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,762,722.64. This represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,079,000 after buying an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,564,000 after buying an additional 620,196 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,376,000 after buying an additional 698,589 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,117,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,820,000 after buying an additional 59,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Utz Brands by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,561,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,467,000 after acquiring an additional 13,755 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of UTZ opened at $13.19 on Tuesday. Utz Brands has a 52-week low of $12.15 and a 52-week high of $20.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 73.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The business had revenue of $341.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.93 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th were issued a dividend of $0.011 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 7th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc engages in manufacture, marketing, and distribution of snack foods. It offers a range of salty snacks, including salty snacks, including potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork skins, veggie snacks, pub/party mixes, tortilla chips, salsa and dips, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp’s, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TORTIYAHS!, etc.