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

Key Points

• Utz Brands has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with an average price target of $17.29 per share.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $0.17 per share, which was below the consensus estimate of $0.19, while its revenue increased by 2.9% year-over-year.
• Utz Brands recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.061 per share, reflecting a significant increase from its previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.2857.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on UTZ shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. 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 report on Thursday, July 17th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective 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.

Utz Brands Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of UTZ stock traded down $0.22 on Thursday, reaching $12.79. 775,803 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,126,081. The company has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.89, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.46 and a 200-day moving average of $13.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Utz Brands has a one year low of $11.53 and a one year high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Utz Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Utz Brands 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 paid a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $339,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 88,099 shares of the company's stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 6,824 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company's stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,561,986 shares of the company's stock worth $24,467,000 after buying an additional 13,755 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 24,055 shares of the company's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 13,019 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

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.