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

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.9286.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UTZ. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Mizuho set a $16.00 target price on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 21st.

Insider Transactions at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, major shareholder Series R. Of Um Partners, Llc acquired 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.48 per share, with a total value of $157,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 615,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,445,200. This represents a 2.50% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dylan Lissette acquired 31,750 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.58 per share, with a total value of $335,915.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 145,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,542,384.14. This represents a 27.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 92,313 shares of company stock valued at $947,055. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 627.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 88,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 76,194 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Utz Brands in the third quarter valued at about $752,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 3.4% in the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,176,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,296,000 after purchasing an additional 39,110 shares in the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the third quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 1,674.6% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 180,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,197,000 after buying an additional 170,623 shares in the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Utz Brands Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $10.24 on Wednesday. Utz Brands has a 1 year low of $9.19 and a 1 year high of $17.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.35. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.33, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 0.39%.The firm had revenue of $377.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $374.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.824-0.847 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Utz Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.063 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.86%.

Utz Brands Company Profile

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.