Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Swiss National Bank raised its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,000 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.10% of Utz Brands worth $2,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Utz Brands in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $169,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Utz Brands by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in Utz Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $220,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total transaction of $6,646,909.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on UTZ shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.25.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ stock opened at $14.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.71 and a 12-month high of $20.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 78.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The company had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.93 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.011 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.