Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ Shares Bought by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) by 48.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 214,686 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,796 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Utz Brands were worth $3,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Utz Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 2,441 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $144,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Utz Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $196,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 3,616 shares during the period. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UTZ. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christina Choi sold 5,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.63, for a total transaction of $77,731.89. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,467.30. This trade represents a 14.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 16.32% of the company’s stock.

Utz Brands Trading Down 0.7%

Utz Brands stock opened at $12.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a PE ratio of 61.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.03. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.53 and a 12-month high of $18.89.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $366.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $360.55 million. Utz Brands had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 1.27%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Utz Brands has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.820-0.850 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.061 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

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.