D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 250.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 89,083 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 63,692 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Utz Brands worth $1,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC bought a new stake in Utz Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 112.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,697 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,078 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $183,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Utz Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other news, Director Timothy Brown bought 5,000 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.96 per share, with a total value of $59,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 67,573 shares of the company's stock, valued at $808,173.08. The trade was a 7.99% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Utz Brands Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:UTZ traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $13.13. 109,628 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 928,734. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 72.92, a PEG 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $13.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.31. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $11.53 and a one year high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The business had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $345.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.011 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Utz Brands 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.