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

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.3864.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.25 price objective on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Utz Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Stephens set a $14.25 price target on shares of Utz Brands in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Utz Brands from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Utz Brands by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,183,000 after acquiring an additional 613,699 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 886,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,199,000 after purchasing an additional 160,720 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,336,000. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 195.5% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 849,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,728,000 after purchasing an additional 561,961 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 61.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 937,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,421,000 after purchasing an additional 356,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ stock opened at $14.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Utz Brands has a fifty-two week low of $6.78 and a fifty-two week high of $14.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.92 and a beta of 0.73.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $371.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $374.18 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.97% and a negative net margin of 2.00%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. Analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were given a dividend of $0.063 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 22nd. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently -75.76%.

Utz Brands Company Profile

Utz Brands, Inc is a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of salty snack foods, offering a wide range of products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn and tortilla chips. Headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania, the company markets its snacks under several well-known brands and serves grocery, mass merchandise, club, convenience and online retailers throughout the United States.

Founded in 1921 by Bill and Salie Utz as a small country store operation, the business expanded gradually through direct delivery to local customers and sales to regional grocers.