TD Cowen Downgrades Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) to Hold

TD Cowen cut shares of Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $15.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $17.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.56.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $13.36. 860,848 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 876,212. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $13.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.01. The company has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.22, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. Utz Brands has a twelve month low of $12.15 and a twelve month high of $20.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $341.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $349.93 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Utz Brands

In related news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman bought 3,525 shares of Utz Brands 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 16.32% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Utz Brands by 14.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,376,000 after buying an additional 698,589 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,564,000 after buying an additional 620,196 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 157.9% during the fourth 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 9.1% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.