Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Shares Acquired by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144,890 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,345 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new position in Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 95,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Utz Brands by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Utz Brands by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Utz Brands by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 138,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Utz Brands Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of Utz Brands stock opened at $13.73 on Tuesday. Utz Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.15 and a fifty-two week high of $20.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.22.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $341.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UTZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Utz Brands 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.