T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. has reduced its holdings in Utz Brands by 75.6%, selling 4,598,539 shares, leaving it with approximately 1.05% of the company valued at $20.9 million.
• Utz Brands increased its quarterly dividend from $0.01 to $0.061, resulting in an annualized dividend of $0.24 and a yield of 1.8%.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings report showed a miss on EPS estimates, with EPS of $0.17 compared to expectations of $0.19, despite revenue exceeding forecasts.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 75.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,487,374 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,598,539 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.05% of Utz Brands worth $20,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Utz Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew 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 valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,441 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew 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 valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,078 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Utz Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $144,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on UTZ shares. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.29.

Utz Brands Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:UTZ traded up $0.21 on Wednesday, reaching $13.50. The stock had a trading volume of 663,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,184,307. The company has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.17. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.53 and a 12-month high of $18.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm's fifty day moving average is $13.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.35.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 1.27%.The company's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is an increase from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Utz Brands's payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

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.