Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Short Interest Update

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,330,000 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the March 15th total of 4,430,000 shares. Approximately 7.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Utz Brands Stock Down 2.6 %

UTZ stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $13.36. The stock had a trading volume of 860,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 874,119. The business has a 50-day moving average of $13.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. Utz Brands has a 52-week low of $12.15 and a 52-week high of $20.04.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were given a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Utz Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. This represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UTZ. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company's stock worth $31,256,000 after acquiring an additional 152,868 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 97,767 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company's stock worth $27,409,000 after purchasing an additional 47,320 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Utz Brands by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 56,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 11,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UTZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Utz Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Utz Brands in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.56.

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.