Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases Shares of 53,573 Utz Brands, Inc. $UTZ

Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 53,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Utz Brands by 105.2% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,414,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,066,000 after buying an additional 1,238,180 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 249.9% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,658,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,571 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 42.3% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,946,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,979,000 after acquiring an additional 875,847 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Utz Brands by 261.5% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 994,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,322,000 after acquiring an additional 719,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 40.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,022,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,480,000 after acquiring an additional 585,952 shares during the last quarter. 95.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on UTZ shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Utz Brands from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.25 target price (up from $10.00) on shares of Utz Brands in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BTIG Research cut shares of Utz Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Utz Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $14.25 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Utz Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.39.

Utz Brands Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE UTZ opened at $14.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of -141.44 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.50 and a 200-day moving average of $8.58. Utz Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.78 and a 52-week high of $14.17.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.61% and a negative net margin of 0.58%.The business had revenue of $361.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.76 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Utz Brands has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.771-0.795 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.063 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 22nd. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Utz Brands’s payout ratio is presently -250.00%.

Utz Brands Profile

Utz Brands, Inc is a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of salty snack foods, offering a wide range of products including potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, popcorn and tortilla chips. Headquartered in Hanover, Pennsylvania, the company markets its snacks under several well-known brands and serves grocery, mass merchandise, club, convenience and online retailers throughout the United States.

Founded in 1921 by Bill and Salie Utz as a small country store operation, the business expanded gradually through direct delivery to local customers and sales to regional grocers.