Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,110,873 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 698,589 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 2.92% of Utz Brands worth $64,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company's stock worth $124,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,656 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% during 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 last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in Utz Brands by 157.9% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 612,441 shares of the company's stock worth $9,591,000 after acquiring an additional 375,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Utz Brands by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,400,014 shares of the company's stock worth $21,923,000 after acquiring an additional 116,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Utz Brands by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company's stock worth $9,831,000 after acquiring an additional 97,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on UTZ shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson upgraded Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen lowered 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. Mizuho cut their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $17.81.

Utz Brands Price Performance

UTZ stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $12.77. The stock had a trading volume of 198,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 912,743. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Utz Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.53 and a twelve month high of $18.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.86, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50-day moving average price is $13.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.61.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The company had revenue of $352.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $345.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Utz Brands's revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were issued a dividend of $0.011 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Jr. Werzyn acquired 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.81 per share, for a total transaction of $94,480.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $271,275.70. The trade was a 53.44% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 17,920 shares of company stock worth $224,156 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 16.32% 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.