Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 501,374 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has increased its holdings in Utz Brands, purchasing an additional 501,374 shares, raising its stake to 7,439,869 shares, which accounts for approximately 5.26% of the company worth over $104 million.
• Utz Brands also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.061 per share from the previous $0.01, reflecting a notable uptick in shareholder return, despite a high payout ratio of 114.29%.
• Analysts suggest that Utz Brands has a moderate buy rating with a consensus price target of $17.29, indicating potential for growth despite the company's recent earnings miss.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,439,869 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 501,374 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 5.26% of Utz Brands worth $104,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTZ. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 44.8% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 7,887 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,441 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 112.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,697 shares of the company's stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,078 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Utz Brands in the first quarter worth $144,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 38.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,904 shares of the company's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Utz Brands in the fourth quarter worth $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Utz Brands Stock Down 0.5%

Utz Brands stock traded down $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $13.43. 731,638 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,041,786. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.17. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $13.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.35. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.53 and a 1 year high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.27% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is a boost from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is 114.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UTZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $17.29.

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.