Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $13.46 and last traded at $13.57, with a volume of 84318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UTZ shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Utz Brands from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Utz Brands from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.22.

Utz Brands Stock Down 4.1 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.69. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.16, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.03.

Utz Brands (NYSE:UTZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $365.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.98 million. Utz Brands had a positive return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Utz Brands, Inc. will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Utz Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.061 per share. This is a positive change from Utz Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Utz Brands’s dividend payout ratio is -126.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Cary Devore sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.32, for a total value of $519,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 451,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,813,346.44. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cc Collier Holdings, Llc sold 2,815,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $48,678,335.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 496,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,576,497.02. This represents a 85.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Utz Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UTZ. State Street Corp increased its position in Utz Brands by 9.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,758,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,256,000 after acquiring an additional 152,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Utz Brands by 3.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,409,000 after purchasing an additional 47,320 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 235,622 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Utz Brands by 2.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 696,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,582,000 after buying an additional 14,647 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Utz Brands by 5.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 571,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,110,000 after buying an additional 28,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.97% of the company’s stock.

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.