Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ Shares Purchased by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Utz Brands, Inc. by 38%, owning approximately 5.67 million shares valued at nearly $80 million after acquiring over 1.56 million additional shares.
• Utz Brands recently reported earnings per share of $0.17, which fell short of the market expectation of $0.19, even though quarterly revenue exceeded expectations at $366.70 million.
• The company declared a new quarterly dividend of $0.061, a notable increase from the previous dividend of $0.01, representing a dividend yield of 1.8%.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,671,757 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,560,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 4.01% of Utz Brands worth $79,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,439,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,753,000 after acquiring an additional 501,374 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,531,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,570,000 after acquiring an additional 252,165 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,520,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,412,000 after acquiring an additional 22,364 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,400,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,923,000 after acquiring an additional 116,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,216,802 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,002,000 after acquiring an additional 331,486 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Utz Brands Stock Down 0.0%

Utz Brands stock traded down $0.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $13.41. 570,762 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,177,846. The company's 50-day moving average is $13.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.35. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.53 and a 52-week high of $18.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.84, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.17.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $366.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.27% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.061 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is 114.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UTZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.29.

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.