Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a drop of 18.6% from the February 28th total of 5,440,000 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Utz Brands news, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 496,038 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.40, for a total value of $6,646,909.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 16.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Utz Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UTZ. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Utz Brands by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 95,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Utz Brands by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 39,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:UTZ opened at $14.04 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.67 and a 200-day moving average of $15.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.05. 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 has a twelve month low of $12.71 and a twelve month high of $20.04.

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

Utz Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be given a $0.011 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on UTZ shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of 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 price target on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.