Stephens Increases Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Price Target to $23.00

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) had its price objective raised by Stephens from $21.00 to $23.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on UTZ. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Utz Brands from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Utz Brands from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $19.83.

Utz Brands Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of UTZ stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.24. 1,167,470 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 745,232. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.16. Utz Brands has a 12-month low of $11.17 and a 12-month high of $20.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -76.96, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.97.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 6.13% and a negative net margin of 1.38%. The business had revenue of $346.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $346.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.059 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is a boost from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is -96.00%.

Insider Activity at Utz Brands

In other news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total transaction of $255,877.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,548,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,531,837.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Utz Brands news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.03, for a total value of $255,877.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,548,704 shares in the company, valued at $67,531,837.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 32,052 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.10, for a total value of $612,193.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,516,652 shares in the company, valued at $67,168,053.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 609,181 shares of company stock worth $10,754,925. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,331,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,554,000 after buying an additional 175,956 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the first quarter valued at about $359,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the first quarter worth about $620,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 45.3% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 7,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Utz Brands by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 208,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 14,264 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.