Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Stock Price

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

UTZ has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price 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. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

Utz Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Utz Brands stock opened at $13.75 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.02. Utz Brands has a 52 week low of $12.71 and a 52 week high of $20.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.13.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $341.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Utz Brands will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.061 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 133.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Howard A. Friedman purchased 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.16 per share, with a total value of $49,914.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 265,729 shares in the company, valued at $3,762,722.64. This trade represents a 1.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 17.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 24.2% in the third quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 27,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 5,278 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 16.1% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 116,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 16,201 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 100.0% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 165,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,936,000 after acquiring an additional 82,935 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 19.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,474,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,091,000 after acquiring an additional 235,622 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in Utz Brands by 42.7% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 243,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,304,000 after acquiring an additional 72,756 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.