Champlain Investment Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 620,196 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $81,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UTZ. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 152,868 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 21.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,831,000 after acquiring an additional 97,767 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Utz Brands by 3.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,409,000 after acquiring an additional 47,320 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Utz Brands by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 56,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after acquiring an additional 11,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $169,000. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of UTZ opened at $13.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.44, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.20. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.15 and a 52-week high of $20.04.

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

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other Utz Brands news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman bought 3,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 265,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on UTZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson cut their price objective 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. TD Cowen decreased their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.25.

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.