Insider Buying: Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) EVP Purchases $19,962.45 in Stock

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) EVP Theresa Robbins Shea bought 1,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.31 per share, with a total value of $19,962.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,271 shares in the company, valued at $733,688.01. The trade was a 2.80 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Utz Brands Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of UTZ stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $14.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,178,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,897. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.71 and a one year high of $20.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.17.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 1.13%. The company had revenue of $341.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.061 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of UTZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Utz Brands by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,923,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,656 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,208,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,564,000 after purchasing an additional 620,196 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,110,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,376,000 after purchasing an additional 698,589 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,117,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,820,000 after buying an additional 59,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Utz Brands by 9.5% in 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. 95.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UTZ shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their price objective on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Utz Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

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.