D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Acquires 63,692 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 250.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,083 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,692 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.06% of Utz Brands worth $1,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510,472 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,654,000 after buying an additional 36,425 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 21.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company's stock worth $9,831,000 after acquiring an additional 97,767 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Utz Brands by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 885,316 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,422,000 after acquiring an additional 30,156 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Utz Brands by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 152,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,390,000 after acquiring an additional 20,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth $339,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total transaction of $6,646,909.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 17,920 shares of company stock worth $224,156. Insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson raised shares of Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.81.

Utz Brands Stock Down 1.3%

UTZ stock opened at $12.14 on Friday. Utz Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.53 and a twelve month high of $18.89. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $13.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.43.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $352.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $345.44 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were issued a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Utz Brands's payout ratio is 75.00%.

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.

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