Boston Partners Purchases 331,486 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Key Points

• Boston Partners increased its stake in Utz Brands, Inc. by 37.4%, acquiring an additional 331,486 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.22 million shares valued at around $17 million.
• Utz Brands reported a miss in earnings per share for the last quarter, posting $0.17 compared to an expected $0.19, despite a revenue increase of 2.9% year-over-year.
• The company has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.061 per share, representing a yield of 1.9%, reflecting a positive change from the previous $0.01 dividend.

Boston Partners raised its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 37.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,216,802 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 331,486 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned 0.86% of Utz Brands worth $17,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of UTZ. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company's stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,561,986 shares of the company's stock worth $24,467,000 after purchasing an additional 13,755 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 152,620 shares of the company's stock worth $2,390,000 after purchasing an additional 20,164 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 667,051 shares of the company's stock worth $10,446,000 after purchasing an additional 23,776 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Utz Brands Stock Up 0.4%

UTZ stock traded up $0.0550 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.0150. 256,794 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,196,374. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $13.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.53 and a 52 week high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.27% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.061 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on UTZ shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.