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

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.22.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lowered 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.

Utz Brands Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Utz Brands stock opened at $15.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -81.95, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. 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 has a 12-month low of $14.17 and a 12-month high of $20.04.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 7.25%. The business had revenue of $365.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.98 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -126.32%.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Utz Brands by 3.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,409,000 after purchasing an additional 47,320 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 11.4% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 296,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,400 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 21.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,831,000 after buying an additional 97,767 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,256,000 after buying an additional 152,868 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.