Natixis Advisors LLC Takes $602,000 Position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 42,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Utz Brands during the first quarter valued at about $196,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Utz Brands by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 152,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,390,000 after purchasing an additional 20,164 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $339,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its position in Utz Brands by 250.8% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 89,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 63,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $512,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Utz Brands Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $12.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.44 and its 200 day moving average is $13.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 59.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.17. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.53 and a 1 year high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.27% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. DA Davidson upgraded Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.29.

Utz Brands 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.