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

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the first quarter worth $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 44.8% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 7,887 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 2,441 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 112.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,697 shares of the company's stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 4,078 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the first quarter valued at $144,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Utz Brands by 38.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,904 shares of the company's stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Utz Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.29.

Utz Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTZ traded down $0.0590 on Thursday, reaching $12.9710. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,191,169. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.53 and a 52-week high of $18.89. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.89, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $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 (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 1.27%.The business had revenue of $366.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $360.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS 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 issued a $0.061 dividend. This is a boost from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Utz Brands Company Profile

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.