Natixis Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. worth approximately $602,000 by purchasing 42,725 shares in the first quarter.
• Utz Brands recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.061 per share, resulting in a yield of 2.0%, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend.
• Utz Brands reported earnings of $0.17 per share, which missed the consensus estimate of $0.19, despite revenues being up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 42,725 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 44.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 112.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 1st quarter worth $144,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 38.9% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,904 shares of the company's stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth $183,000. Institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.29.

Utz Brands Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Utz Brands stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.91. 660,821 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,167,465. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.36. Utz Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.53 and a fifty-two week high of $18.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.17.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.061 dividend. This is an increase 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 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.