Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Price Target Raised to $15.00

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) had its target price raised by UBS Group from $13.50 to $15.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on UTZ. DA Davidson raised shares of Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Utz Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.88.

Utz Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $14.07 on Thursday. Utz Brands has a 12 month low of $11.53 and a 12 month high of $18.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.97, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.16. The firm had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $345.44 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.061 per share. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Brown bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.96 per share, with a total value of $59,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 67,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $808,173.08. The trade was a 7.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William Jr. Werzyn acquired 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.81 per share, with a total value of $94,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,275.70. The trade was a 53.44% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTZ. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Utz Brands by 38.0% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,671,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560,884 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,079,000 after buying an additional 1,025,656 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Utz Brands during the first quarter worth about $11,697,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 221.7% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 914,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,874,000 after buying an additional 630,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Utz Brands by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,564,000 after buying an additional 620,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.97% 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.