Brokerages Set Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Target Price at $18.63

Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.63.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Utz Brands in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Utz Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $17.42 on Friday. Utz Brands has a fifty-two week low of $11.17 and a fifty-two week high of $19.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 1.73% and a positive return on equity of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $352.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. Utz Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Utz Brands will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.059 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This is a boost from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -74.19%.

Insider Transactions 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 news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 3,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.13, for a total transaction of $72,407.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,399,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,031,861.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 13,446 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 3,548,704 shares in the company, valued at $67,531,837.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 609,181 shares of company stock worth $10,754,925 in the last 90 days. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Utz Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 342,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,069,000 after acquiring an additional 28,011 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 26,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,739 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 58.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 13,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 58,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 5,014 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.