Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Receives $17.69 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.88.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UTZ. TD Cowen cut Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, Director William Jr. Werzyn acquired 8,000 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.81 per share, with a total value of $94,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Brown acquired 5,000 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.96 per share, with a total value of $59,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 67,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $808,173.08. This represents a 7.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 16.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 38.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,671,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,858,000 after buying an additional 1,560,884 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the first quarter worth about $11,697,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 221.7% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 914,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,874,000 after purchasing an additional 630,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised 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 worth $81,564,000 after purchasing an additional 620,196 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ opened at $14.13 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Utz Brands has a 12 month low of $11.53 and a 12 month high of $18.89. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $345.44 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.