MML Investors Services LLC Sells 3,507 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

MML Investors Services LLC lowered its position in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,347 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,507 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,422,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 19.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,091,000 after buying an additional 235,622 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Utz Brands by 9.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Utz Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,981,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Utz Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,651,000. Institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In related news, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total transaction of $519,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 451,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,813,346.44. This trade represents a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. This represents a 85.02 % 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 Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of UTZ stock opened at $15.70 on Friday. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.17 and a 1 year high of $20.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.63, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.01.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $365.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.061 dividend. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Utz Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.22.

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.