GSA Capital Partners LLP Sells 151,594 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP has reduced its stake in Utz Brands, Inc. by 69%, selling 151,594 shares and holding 67,968 shares valued at $957,000 after the sell-off.
• Utz Brands recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.061 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous amount, which represents an annual yield of 1.9%.
• Despite a 2.9% year-over-year revenue increase, the company reported earnings per share of $0.17, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19.

GSA Capital Partners LLP reduced its stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 69.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,968 shares of the company's stock after selling 151,594 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP's holdings in Utz Brands were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Utz Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $11,697,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,376,000 after buying an additional 698,589 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company's stock worth $81,564,000 after buying an additional 620,196 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 157.9% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 612,441 shares of the company's stock worth $9,591,000 after buying an additional 375,000 shares during the period. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $21,570,000 after buying an additional 252,165 shares in the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Utz Brands Stock Down 6.3%

Shares of UTZ opened at $13.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.14. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.53 and a 1 year high of $18.89. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $13.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.41.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). Utz Brands had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $366.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.061 dividend. This is an increase from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William Jr. Werzyn acquired 8,000 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.81 per share, with a total value of $94,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 22,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $271,275.70. The trade was a 53.44% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Brown acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 67,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $808,173.08. The trade was a 7.99% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on UTZ. TD Cowen downgraded Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson raised Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.88.

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.

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