Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) CEO Howard A. Friedman Buys 3,525 Shares

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) CEO Howard A. Friedman bought 3,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,722.64. The trade was a 1.34 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Utz Brands Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE UTZ opened at $13.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.17. Utz Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $12.71 and a one year high of $20.04.

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

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.061 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Utz Brands by 112.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 4,078 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $169,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Utz Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reduced their price target 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. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho reduced 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 note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.30.

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.