Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.38.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Utz Brands from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Utz Brands from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Utz Brands from $20.00 to $20.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ opened at $18.44 on Monday. Utz Brands has a 1-year low of $11.17 and a 1-year high of $19.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 6.08% and a negative net margin of 1.73%. The firm had revenue of $352.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $354.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.059 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is presently -74.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Utz Brands news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $255,877.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,548,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,531,837.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Series U. Of Um Partners, Llc sold 446,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.40, for a total transaction of $7,764,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 397,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,923,199. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $255,877.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,548,704 shares in the company, valued at $67,531,837.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 609,181 shares of company stock valued at $10,754,925. Insiders own 17.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 7.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 342,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,069,000 after buying an additional 28,011 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 11.5% in the first quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 26,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 2,739 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 58.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 13,291 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Utz Brands by 9.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 58,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 5,014 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.