Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Price Target Increased to $24.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) had its price objective hoisted by Mizuho from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

UTZ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America raised Utz Brands from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $22.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Truist Financial lifted their target price 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. DA Davidson began coverage on Utz Brands in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Utz Brands from $20.50 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Utz Brands has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $19.83.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

UTZ traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.24. 1,167,470 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 745,232. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.16. Utz Brands has a 1-year low of $11.17 and a 1-year high of $20.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -76.96, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a negative net margin of 1.38% and a positive return on equity of 6.13%. The company had revenue of $346.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $346.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. Utz Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Utz Brands will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.059 per share. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -96.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 3,785 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.13, for a total transaction of $72,407.05. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,399,470 shares in the company, valued at $65,031,861.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Utz Brands news, Director Roger K. Deromedi sold 3,785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.13, for a total transaction of $72,407.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,399,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,031,861.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Chinh Chu sold 92,226 shares of Utz Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.80, for a total value of $1,641,622.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,556,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,299,541.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 609,181 shares of company stock worth $10,754,925 over the last three months. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $268,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Utz Brands by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 3,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Utz Brands by 3.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 51,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $687,000 after buying an additional 1,918 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Utz Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Utz Brands by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 389,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,315 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.