Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $339,000 Position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 21,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UTZ. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,654,000 after purchasing an additional 36,425 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 576,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 5,569 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. grew its position in Utz Brands by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 84,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 22,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $12.89 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.33. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.15 and a one year high of $20.04. 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 company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.61, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.011 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UTZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler lowered 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, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.25.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In related news, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total transaction of $6,646,909.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.32% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Company Profile

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.