Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Shares Bought by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 698,589 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 2.92% of Utz Brands worth $64,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new position in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Utz Brands by 112.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 4,078 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter worth $169,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter worth $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on UTZ shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson upgraded Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Utz Brands news, Director William Jr. Werzyn purchased 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.81 per share, for a total transaction of $94,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 22,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,275.70. This represents a 53.44 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 17,920 shares of company stock valued at $224,156. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Utz Brands stock opened at $12.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.69. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.53 and a 52 week high of $18.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.28, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $345.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were issued a dividend of $0.011 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is 75.00%.

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.