Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.25.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on UTZ shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other news, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,762,722.64. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was 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. Corporate insiders own 16.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% during the fourth 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 period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,376,000 after buying an additional 698,589 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 59,429 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Utz Brands by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,256,000 after acquiring an additional 152,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ opened at $12.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 70.03, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Utz Brands has a twelve month low of $12.54 and a twelve month high of $20.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $13.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.37.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $349.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.011 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

About Utz Brands

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.