Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.63.

UTZ has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Utz Brands from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $20.00 to $20.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $255,877.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,548,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,531,837.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Utz Brands news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $255,877.38. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,548,704 shares in the company, valued at $67,531,837.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Chinh Chu sold 92,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.80, for a total value of $1,641,622.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,556,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,299,541.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 609,181 shares of company stock valued at $10,754,925 in the last quarter. Insiders own 17.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 8.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 342,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,069,000 after buying an additional 28,011 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 11.5% in the first quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 26,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 2,739 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 58.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 13,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 58,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 5,014 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Utz Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $17.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $18.10 and its 200 day moving average is $15.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.42. Utz Brands has a fifty-two week low of $11.17 and a fifty-two week high of $19.21.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 1.73% and a positive return on equity of 6.08%. The company had revenue of $352.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $354.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.059 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is presently -77.42%.

About Utz Brands

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.