Howard A. Friedman Acquires 3,525 Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Stock

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) CEO Howard A. Friedman bought 3,525 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Utz Brands Stock Down 1.0 %

UTZ stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $13.96. 1,002,639 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,197. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.19. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.71 and a 1-year high of $20.04. 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 market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $349.93 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost 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 1.75%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 133.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UTZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 152,868 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 296,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,241,000 after acquiring an additional 30,400 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 3.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 21.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 555,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,831,000 after acquiring an additional 97,767 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 5.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 571,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,110,000 after purchasing an additional 28,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

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.