Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Position Lowered by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,434 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,803 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,256,000 after acquiring an additional 152,868 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc raised its position in shares of Utz Brands by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 296,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,409,000 after purchasing an additional 47,320 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Utz Brands by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,831,000 after purchasing an additional 97,767 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Utz Brands by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,510,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,654,000 after buying an additional 36,425 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on UTZ. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.25.

Utz Brands Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:UTZ opened at $14.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 78.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.71 and a one year high of $20.04.

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

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 133.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total transaction of $6,646,909.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman acquired 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $14.16 per share, for a total transaction of $49,914.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.