HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 2,707 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,237 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,707 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $103,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 11.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 446,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,437,000 after purchasing an additional 11,492 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the second quarter worth $914,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UTZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Utz Brands news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $48,678,335.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 496,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. The trade was a 85.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total value of $519,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 451,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,813,346.44. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Utz Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $15.84 on Monday. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $14.17 and a 52-week high of $20.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -83.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.02 and a 200-day moving average of $16.92.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.061 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -126.32%.

Utz Brands 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.