Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.69.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on UTZ. 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 research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on Utz Brands from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $17.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, Director Timothy Brown acquired 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.96 per share, with a total value of $59,800.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 67,573 shares of the company's stock, valued at $808,173.08. This represents a 7.99% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William Jr. Werzyn acquired 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.81 per share, for a total transaction of $94,480.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 22,970 shares in the company, valued at $271,275.70. This trade represents a 53.44% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,439,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,753,000 after purchasing an additional 501,374 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,671,757 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560,884 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,564,000 after purchasing an additional 620,196 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,022,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,480,000 after purchasing an additional 585,952 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Utz Brands Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of UTZ opened at $13.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.99, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.32. The business's fifty day moving average price is $12.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.48. Utz Brands has a 52 week low of $11.53 and a 52 week 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 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16. The firm had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $345.44 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is an increase from Utz Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.00%.

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.

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