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

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.20.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UTZ. Mizuho decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reduced 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $14.26 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -75.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.53. Utz Brands has a 52 week low of $13.36 and a 52 week high of $20.04.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The firm had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently -126.32%.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In related news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $48,678,335.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 496,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,576,497.02. This trade represents a 85.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total value of $519,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 451,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,813,346.44. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $80,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $142,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $169,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $185,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $187,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.