Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse Group

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ – Get Rating) was downgraded by Credit Suisse Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, The Fly reports. They currently have a $16.50 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $20.00. Credit Suisse Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 13.79% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on UTZ. Stephens downgraded Utz Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 19th. Oppenheimer downgraded Utz Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 8th. Bank of America began coverage on Utz Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Utz Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

NYSE:UTZ opened at $14.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.79. Utz Brands has a 12-month low of $13.50 and a 12-month high of $30.09.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $300.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.66 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 5.40% and a net margin of 1.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Utz Brands news, CFO Ajay Kataria bought 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.79 per share, with a total value of $96,530.00. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dylan Lissette bought 7,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.77 per share, for a total transaction of $101,539.98. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 48,399 shares of company stock valued at $666,617. 17.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTZ. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 918.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the third quarter worth about $51,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 1,990.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 3,702 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.18% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Company Profile (Get Rating)

Utz Brands, Inc operates as a snack food manufacturing company. It offers a range of salty snacks, including potato chips, kettle chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, veggie snacks, pork skins, pub/party mixes, salsa and queso, ready-to-eat popcorn, and other snacks under the Utz, Zapp's, ON THE BORDER, Golden Flake, Good Health, Boulder Canyon, Hawaiian, TGIF, TORTIYAHS!, and other brand names.

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