Econ Financial Services Corp Acquires New Position in Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Econ Financial Services Corp acquired a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 38,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in UTZ. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Utz Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Utz Brands by 20.1% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,408 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its stake in Utz Brands by 22.5% in the first quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 14,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Utz Brands by 44.8% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Utz Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $144,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.07.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

NYSE UTZ opened at $12.28 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 58.45, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.02. Utz Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.53 and a fifty-two week high of $18.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 1.27%.The business’s quarterly 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 EPS. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other news, Director Christina Choi sold 5,703 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.63, for a total transaction of $77,731.89. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,467.30. The trade was a 14.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 16.32% 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.