Howard A. Friedman Buys 3,525 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Stock

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,762,722.64. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Utz Brands Price Performance

UTZ stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $13.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,002,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,197. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.71 and a 52-week high of $20.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.19. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.93 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.061 per share. This is a boost from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UTZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,376,000 after acquiring an additional 698,589 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,564,000 after acquiring an additional 620,196 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 157.9% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 612,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,591,000 after purchasing an additional 375,000 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Utz Brands by 19.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,091,000 after purchasing an additional 235,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lowered 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. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

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.