Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Stock Now Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus is “Hold”: Of 11 analysts covering Utz Brands, nine rate it a hold, one a sell and one a buy. The average 12-month price target is $13.39.
• Shares opened at $14.25, near the 52-week high of $14.36, after rising from a 52-week low of $6.78. Recent analyst actions generally involved downgrades to neutral or equal weight, though several maintained targets around $14.25.
• Utz reported quarterly EPS of $0.19, narrowly beating estimates, while revenue reached $371.8 million, up 1.4% year over year but below expectations. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.063, representing an annualized yield of about 1.8%.

Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.39.

UTZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut Utz Brands from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Stephens set a $14.25 price objective on Utz Brands in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler cut Utz Brands from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $14.25 in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $14.25 in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Utz Brands from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 3,524.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,247 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 318.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,783 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 2,879 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 363.5% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,086 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 4,773 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $80,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $159,000. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $14.25 on Friday. Utz Brands has a 1 year low of $6.78 and a 1 year high of $14.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.18 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $14.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.41.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $371.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $374.18 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.97% and a negative net margin of 2.00%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.80 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.0630 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 21st. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -75.76%.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc is a U.S.-based snack food company that manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded salty snacks. Its products include potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, pork rinds, popcorn and other snack items sold through grocery stores, mass merchants, club stores, convenience stores and e-commerce channels.

The company's brand portfolio includes Utz, Zapp's, Boulder Canyon, On the Border, Golden Flake, Good Health and Hawaiian, among others.

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