Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 158,482 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Verition Fund Management LLC cut its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 66.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,230 shares of the company’s stock after selling 158,482 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Utz Brands worth $1,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 57,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the second quarter worth $914,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $907,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 45.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 239,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,993,000 after purchasing an additional 74,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Utz Brands by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,238,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,607,000 after buying an additional 223,462 shares in the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on UTZ. Mizuho lowered their price target on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Utz Brands news, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 496,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. This represents a 85.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total transaction of $519,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 451,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,813,346.44. The trade was 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $16.92 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.05, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.29 and a 12 month high of $20.04.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.98 million. Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 7.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.061 dividend. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently -121.05%.

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.