Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UTZ. Zacks Research cut Utz Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group set a $10.00 target price on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. DA Davidson set a $15.00 price target on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ stock opened at $9.67 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 968.27, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.24 and a 200 day moving average of $11.21. Utz Brands has a 52 week low of $8.72 and a 52 week high of $14.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.26. Utz Brands had a net margin of 0.06% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $342.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $346.99 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Utz Brands has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.771-0.795 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.063 dividend. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,500.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its position in Utz Brands by 93.2% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,688,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,521,000 after acquiring an additional 814,555 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 560.6% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 112,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 95,733 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Utz Brands by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 327,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after purchasing an additional 97,271 shares during the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Utz Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Utz Brands by 10.8% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,131,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,043,000 after acquiring an additional 304,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc is a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of salty snack foods, offering a wide range of products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn and tortilla chips. Headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania, the company markets its snacks under several well-known brands and serves grocery, mass merchandise, club, convenience and online retailers throughout the United States.

Founded in 1921 by Bill and Salie Utz as a small country store operation, the business expanded gradually through direct delivery to local customers and sales to regional grocers.